Caitlyn's+Project

= Kickin' Music = Introduction Does different music affect how far people can kick soccer balls, and if so, which type of music affects it the most? 36-Human reaction time. Since I love soccer and music so much, I got the idea to test if different music affected how far people kicked a soccer ball. After doing some interesting research, I found that the pace of music can, depending on its speed, lower or raise someone's heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing rate. I also found that Dr. John Diamond discovered that when listening to hard rock music, all of the muscles in the body go weak. This is apparently caused due to a tendency of harmful, irregular beats and shrill frequencies found in this kind of music. In addition to this, I learned that loud, fast-paced music tends to increase muscular tension, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rates, motor responses, and skin temperatures. I hoped this would affect how far my test subjects kicked the soccer ball.

I. Hypothesis After completing my research, I prediced that the rock song, jazz song, rap song, and the country music will make the soccer kick go farther than the hip hop song and the others since they are so intense, loud, exciting and fast-paced.

II. Materials and Methods For my experiment, I used a soccer ball, a meter stick, and an iPod. Before beginning, I drew a line in the sand. Before kicking, the test subjects were to stand behind this line, and no closer to the soccer ball. I had also drawn a line exactly two meters in front of the line, where I placed the soccer ball before every kick. Then I used the meter stick to measure out the distance and placed markers, which were actually sticks and shoes, at every ten-meter interval, all the way up to fifty meters. During the actual experiment, I gave the test subjects the iPod and put whichever song I needed to on. The volume was always slightly above medium, at about 20, where the maximum volume is 30. I made them listen to each song for anywhere between one and two minutes, before letting them kick the ball. Finally, I measured the distance the ball had been kicked and recorded the distance. III. Results IV. Conclusion For both test subjects, their farthest kicks were made when listening to country and hip hop music, and both of their shortest kicks were made while listening to the lullaby and jazz music. I conclude that certain music with certain qualities does effect how far people kick soccer balls, but to a limited extent. V. Explanation I believe that the reason the test subjects kicked the soccer ball farther for the country and hip hop songs is that these songs had a louder, faster beat. From my research, I learned that songs with these qualities are known to increase muscular tension, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rates, motor responses, and skin temperatures. All of these, especially the increase in muscular tension, motor responses, and heart rate, I believe did actually make the test subjects kick the soccer ball further. I also think that the fast, loud music has the biggest effect. The slower, more average songs, seem to have some effect on the soccer kicks but very little.