Lab Practicum: Dynamics: Task
Lab Practicum: Dynamics: Task
Lab Practicum: Dynamics: Task
12-LOCKE
Your goal is to accelerate the cart through the use of stopwatch in a preset time.
1. Acceleration
First, this experiment would not be able to use a photogates because of the lack in materials. In
alternative, we used a cart on an incline with pulley that is connected with the circular weights tie on a
string hanged to the other side of the incline. For the computation of acceleration, the cart's distance
from the top if the incline is 0.50 m in 1 second. We can use the formula for uniform acceleration:
x=at + ut
Therefore, the acceleration of the cart covered from 0.5 meter must be 1 m/s
2. Theoretical solution
First, let us neglect friction as one of the factor that will affect the acceleration of the cart.
Fn T
n
m
mgcos
mgsin mg
The mass (m) of the cart is 0.507 kilograms, gravitational acceleration (g) at Manila is 9.78m/s,
acceleration (a) is 1m/s, and the angle of the incline () is 7.
Equation:
Solving for the mass (M) of the weights that will give the cart an acceleration of 1 m/s
F = m a = T mgsin... Eq. 1
F = M a = Mg T... Eq. 2
ma + Ma = Mg mgsin
ma + Ma = Mg mgsin
Ma Mg = mgsin ma
M(a g) = mgsin ma
ma
= , we can now find the value of M by substituting all the given values.
ag
(0.507kg)(9.78m/s)(sin7) (0.507kg)(1m/s)
=
1m/s 9.78m/s
Therefore, the mass (M) of the weights that will be used in the experiment without considering the
friction will be 127 grams.
1 1.09
2 1.09
3 1.17
4 1.11
5 1.12
Table 1. The time it takes for the cart to move to its final position in 127 grams
We can calculate for its average time to get its acceleration:
Thus, the frictional force really affects the expected value of the time and acceleration.
T
Fn
n T
mgcos
mgsin mg
Ff
The mass (m) of the cart is 0.507 kilograms, mass (M) of the weight is 0.127 kg, gravitational
acceleration(g) is 9.78m/s, computed acceleration (a) is 0.803m/s, and the angle of the incline() is 7.
M a = Mg T... Eq. 2
mgcos = Mg mgsin ma Ma
Mg mgsin ma Ma
=
mgcos
The mass (m) of the cart is 0.507 kilograms, gravitational acceleration (g) at Manila is 9.78m/s,
acceleration (a) is 1m/s, and the angle of the incline() is 7.
F = M a = Mg T ... Eq. 2
ma + Ma = Mg - mgcos - mgsin
Testing:
1 1.04
2 1.04
3 1.02
4 0.99
5 1.02
Table 2. The time it takes for the cart to move to its final position in 141 grams
We can calculate for its average time to get its acceleration:
4. Conclusion
In the first testing, we neglect the frictional force as a factor in getting the time (t) as 1.00 s.
There is a difference of approximately 0.116 second, we resolved the equation and try to find the
nearest possible average time when we include the frictional force. In the second testing, we got an
average of 1.022 seconds with an approximately 0.022 second difference from the target time. The
second testing is more reliable because we got the nearest and possible difference we should get and
also we included friction as a factor. Thus, we can conclude that friction affects the acceleration of a
thing in motion.
The possible uncertainties are device errors, measurement errors and also the human errors.
We used a stopwatch in getting the time it takes for the cart to reach its final position. We can also say
that human errors, because we only hold the cart and release it by the stopwatch starts to run. Maybe
using a photogates can measure the time more accurate and closer to the time needed.
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