This activity simulates an experiment in particle physics where a target material would be bombarded by high speed particles and conclusions are drawn from the results of the collisions. It will give you a chance to use a "Monte Carlo" statistics technique.

 

Problem: To indirectly determine the radius of a single target circle using probability and the value of  .

 

Procedure:  Tape a page of circles on the floor and loosely cover it with a sheet of carbon paper placed "inky-side" down. Working in pairs, drop a marble from waist height so that the marble hits the carbon paper. Your partner must catch the marble after its first bounce. Repeat this a minimum of 100 times. Care should be taken to distribute the hits as randomly as possible over the entire target area. When you are done, you will count the total number of "target hits." It is "OK" to miss the paper from time to time. Those points will naturally be excluded form the data set. All measurements are to be in centimeters to two-decimal places.