I know it is always difficult to know what to write for a summary of lab activities. Here are two sample write-ups that have been submitted with my comments in italics. Hopefully this will help you get the idea of which one communicates more clearly what the project was all about.
Introduction:
Sample #1:
This Asteroid project's purpose is to use a constant velocity vehicle to intercept the accelerating ball (asteroid). I don't really have a good idea of what was going on in this activity.
Sample #2:
The purpose of this project was to calculate when a ball rolling down a ramp would reach the bottom and have a constant motion car hit it. This was intended to simulate a rocket exploding an asteroid about to hit Seattle. Our group chose to use one of 172.5 m long ramps propped on top of two physics 3rd edition textbooks. Our asteroid was one of the larger iron balls. We used constant motion car 11, as our rocket. This gives a much clearer sense of what the activity was all about. It is not completely accurate to call the constant motion vehicle a "rocket", but you definitely understand how the activity is set up.
Analysis:
Sample #1:
We are given that the ball (asteroid) is going to roll down from 0.85 m. We first put this as the P (position) for the equation of the ball. (P=0.14t^2 + 0.2t -0.00050). Then we calcluate the t from that equation and get t = 1.84 s. Next, I put this t into the position equation of the vehicle. (P=0.17t). Then I get P = 0.315m = 32 cm. The vehicle intercepts the ball. Nothing written here is incorrect but it is a little hard to follow. Some explanatory sentences to connect the math to the physical objects would make it much clearer.
Sample #2:
The first thing that we did was set up our constant motion car with a meter stick and filmed it so that we could put the video into LoggerPro and find a equation for the speed of the car. We then did the same video process with the iron ball on the ramp. We then put each video in LoggerPro and plotted points while the car and ball moved, frame-by-frame. With those points we had the program plot a best fit line, which we then used the equation to help find when the ball would reach the bottom of the ramp at a shorter distance up the ramp and then calculate how far away we would have to start the car so they would collide at the bottom of the graph. The equation for the car was X= .16t-.199. The equation for the ball was X=.13t2-.15t+.017. The distance from the bottom of the ramp that we were given was .7m. We then put .7m in for X, .7=.13t2-.15t+.017 and subtracted .7 from both sides so the end equation was 0=.13t2-.15t-.683. We then put the equation in a quadratic formula program in our calculator to find t, t=2.94 seconds. This means that it will take 2.94 seconds for the ball to reach the end of the ramp when starting only .7m up. We then but 2.94 into the car equation to find how far away form the bottom of the ramp the car had to start. X=.16(2.94)-.119, X=.35m. This means that we have to start the car .35 meters away from the bottom of the ramp, or 35cm. This explanation is much clearer about how the team went about solving the problem. It doesn't just list the math, but makes the connection to the physical set-up.
Hope this helps with the write-ups. Please....make 'em good!