making impact craters

Experiments are done to test ideas or theories. Before each experiment, think carefully about what you are going to investigate, why you want to do it and what you believe will be the result.
To help you do this, like any other scientist, you will think about the problem, or the research question you wish to answer. For instance:

• Problem: “I want to find out the shape of an impact crater.” (Experiment 1.1)

Or:

• Problem: “I want to find out if big projectiles make bigger craters.” (Experiment 1.2)

Next comes the hypothesis (or assumption), in which you state what you expect will be the result of your experiment. For instance:

• Hypothesis: “I expect that an impact crater has the shape of a circular hole.” (Exp. 1.1)

Or:

• Hypothesis: “A big projectile makes a bigger hole than a small one.” (Exp. 1.2)

Write down your problem and hypothesis before you start your experiment, so you can check it later with your results. Like with any scientific experiment it is important that you make careful notes of what you do and observe. Record your measurements in tables and plot them in graphs. Make sketches, photos and (if possible) videos of your experiments.

Scientific experiments like these must be reproducible. That means you must perform them and describe them in such a way that others may repeat the experiment and get the same results.