05 AccelerationDownIncline-2

Acceleration Down an Incline
There is a well-known story that Galileo dropped two objects of different

weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa in order to show that all objects
accelerate toward the Earth at the same rate, regardless of their weight
as long as air resistance is negligible. Historians, however, are quite
certain that Galileo never performed such an experiment.
Galileos experiments with acceleration involved rolling balls down an inclined plane. He did this out
of necessity because of his inability to make precise measurements of the short time intervals
needed for measuring the acceleration of objects in free fall. The inclined planes angle could be
adjusted until the time for the ball to roll to the end was long enough for even the crude timemeasuring devices of his day to produce useful results.
In this exercise, you will examine acceleration by measuring the time needed for an object to roll
various distances down an inclined plane much like Galileo did around 400 years ago.
Purpose:
1. Examine the acceleration of an object rolling down an inclined plane
2. Determine the shape of a Distance vs Time graph for an accelerating object
3. Determine the mathematical relationship between the distance and time an object travels
while it is accelerating
Materials:
inclined plane, Hot Wheels car, track, stopwatch, meter stick or measuring tape
(Note: marbles may be used if toys cars and track are unavailable)
Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Measure and mark from one end of the inclined plane the distances indicated in the data
table.
Place your inclined plane on something (a book?) so that one end is slightly elevated. Be sure
to support the track so that it does not bow.
Use the stopwatch to determine how much time is needed for the car (marble) to roll each
indicated distance down the incline. Record this time in the data table.
Perform two time trials for each distance and average them.
Use MS Excel to make a graph of Distance vs Time.
Use the MS Excel Add Trendline function to draw and calculate the best-fit curve to your
data points. Place this on your graph.
Answer the questions at the end of this activity.
Distance, meters
Time, seconds
Trial 1
Trial 2
Average Time,
seconds
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
2.10
Questions:
1.
How does a Distance vs Time graph of accelerated motion compare with a distance vs
time graph of non-accelerated motion (constant velocity)?
2. How can you tell by looking at a Distance vs Time graph whether or not the object has
constant or changing speed?
3. What does the shape of your graph and the best-fit equation tell us about the
mathematical relationship between distance and time for a uniformly accelerating object?
4. When looking at his data, Galileo discovered that an object would travel 4 times as far (2 2)
in twice the time, 9 times as far (32) in triple the time, 16 times as far in (42) in quadruple
the time, etc...
Use your graph to find the

time to travel 0.40 m ____
time
time
time
time
time
to
to
to
to
to
travel 0.90 m ____

travel 1.35 m ____
travel 1.53 m ____
travel 1.80 m ____
travel 2.07 m ____
.
time
time
time
time
time
time
time
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
travel 0.10 m ____

travel 0.15 m ____
travel 0.20 m ____
travel 0.25 m ____
travel 0.30 m ____
travel 0.40 m ____
travel 0.50 m ____
ratio
ratio
ratio
ratio
ratio
ratio
ratio
= ____
= ____
= ____
= ____
= ____
= ____
= ____
time
time
time
time
time
to
to
to
to
to
travel 0.10 m ____

travel 0.15 m ____
travel 0.17 m ____
travel 0.20 m ____
travel 0.23 m ____
ratio
ratio
ratio
ratio
ratio
= ____
= ____
= ____
= ____
= ____
5. Do your results seem to agree with Galileos discovery? _____ Why/Why not?
6. What could you do in order to experimentally test whether or not all objects accelerate at
the same rate, regardless of their weight?
7. How do you think the angle of incline affects this experiment?
8. What should happen to the time values in your data table if the incline is made steeper?
9. What should happen to the ratios in question #4 if the incline is made steeper?
10. List possible sources of error in this lab.

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Acceleration Down an Incline

There is a well-known story that Galileo dropped two objects of different

Use your graph to find the

travel 0.90 m ____

travel 0.10 m ____

travel 0.10 m ____

7. How do you think the angle of incline affects this experiment?

10. List possible sources of error in this lab.

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