LAB REPORT FORMAT

1. The Standard Lab Report

A Lab Report is the “formal” end to doing an experiment. Most of the report may be hand-written or typed but
measured data must be handwritten in pen. This is to prevent “fudging” the numbers if they don’t work out
nicely. Instead, if your results are not accurate, explain in your conclusion what parts of the procedure may have
caused it.

2. Structure of the Lab Report

Name: Jane Chen

Partner: Jaspreet Dhillon
Date: Sept. 9, 2009
Title

Objective Write a one-sentence statement of the general purpose of the experiment.

Theory Discuss in paragraph form any physics understanding needed for the lab. This should
include:
 Important concepts, such as definitions of words, or principles like energy
conservation
 Free body diagram(s) if forces are involved.
 Physics equations needed for any calculations. These should be rearranged and
solved for the variable being calculated (algebra should be done here with
variables, not later in the analysis with numbers!) Equations should be on their
own separate lines.
 Give brief definitions of each variable in the equations (t is time, d is
displacement, etc.)

Equipment/Diagram Clearly draw the equipment layout and label the important pieces of equipment.

Procedure If given the procedure, simply write:

See procedure as stated in handout [insert name of handout].

If not given the procedure:

Write a list of steps describing the essential features of the procedure. Include all
measurements taken and how they were measured. Write in the impersonal scientific
manner (“The mass was measured by...” but not “I measured the mass by...”).

Data Make a data table for all measurements taken more than once. Give all data tables a
specific title.
Table 1: Position, velocity and acceleration of cart.
Position (cm) Diff. (cm) Vel. (cm/s) Accel.
(cm/s2)
1.55
2.10 0.55 33.0
2.85 0.75 45.0 720
3.79 0.94 56.4 684
4.95 1.16 69.6 792

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Analysis In this section of your report you perform a mathematical analysis of your data. Include a
sample calculation so that the reader can see how the numbers in your data table were
produced. DO NOT provide a calculation for every entry in your data table. This is how
you can show a sample calculation:

Sample velocity calculation:

d5 - d4 3.79 cm - 2.85 cm
v5 = --------- = -----------------------
t 0.01667 s

= 56.4 cm/s

If there exists a theoretic value for the quantity you are calculating (such as g=9.8 m/s2),
an estimate of the percentage error should be included in your analysis. This can be
found by:

100%

Summary/Conclusion Provide a short paragraph which describes the outcome of your experiment (i.e., what
you got and what it means). This paragraph should contain the following

 brief reiteration of purpose

 final numerical results with errors
 conclusion about results and major observations
 sources of error
 recommendations (if you were to do the experiment again)

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 Date: Sep 8, 2002
SAMPLE LAB REPORT Name: Jody Hiccough
Partner: Jason Moskovitz

LAB REPORT: A STUDY IN ACCELERATION

Objective: To analyze the motion of a cart accelerating down an inclined plane.

Theory:
When allowed to roll down an incline, a cart with accelerate with only a
portion of the acceleration due to gravity. The forces on the cart are shown in
the following free body diagram:

If friction is neglected, the net force F on the cart will be

sin
Where is the weight of the cart and θ is the angle of the incline.
and then gives
sin
sin
where a is the acceleration of the cart and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
The acceleration of the cart can be found using

∆
where is the final velocity, is the initial velocity, and ∆ is the time
interval. Each velocity will be calculated by

∆
where is the final position and is the initial position.

Once the acceleration of the cart is found, the experimental acceleration due to
gravity can be calculated by rearranging
sin to give

sin

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Equipment/Diagram:

Procedure: The operation of the ticker tape timer was verified by slowly pulling a ticker
tape through the timer and making sure that all of the dots recorded clearly. The
adjustment screw on the timer was adjusted until a reliable set of dots was
obtained. The timer interval between dots was given as 1/60 s or 0.0167 s.

A 500g mass was placed in the cart to give it more stability. Masking tape was
used to hold the 500 g mass in position. The ticker tape was securely fastened to
the cart with masking tape and the ticker-tape timer was placed behind it on the
ramp to minimize friction. The ticker tape timer was held in position with C-
clamps (not shown) The cart was allowed to roll down the ramp, travelling a
total distance of approximately 50 cm. A total of 3 runs were taken before a
suitable ticker tape was obtained (one where the dots were clearly marked.) A
series of clearly spaced dots (about 20 cm piece of ticker tape) was chosen on the
ticker tape (see sample tape below). All measurements were taken from the first
of the chosen set of dots. The measurements were taken with a wooden metre
stick and recorded to the nearest half millimetre.

Position measurements were taken on the ticker tape as shown below:

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Data:
Table 1: Position, velocity and acceleration of cart
Position Diff. Vel. Accel.
di(cm) (cm) (cm/s) (cm/s2)
d1 0.55
d2 1.10 0.55 33.0
d3 1.85 0.75 45.0 720
d4 2.79 0.94 56.4 684
d5 3.95 1.16 69.6 792

Analysis:

Sample velocity calculation:

d5 - d4 3.79 cm - 2.85 cm
v5 = --------- = ------------------------
t 0.01667 s
= 56.4 cm/s

Sample acceleration calculation:

v5 - v4 56.4 cm/s - 45.0 cm/s
a5 = ------- = ---------------------------
t 0.01667 s
= 684 cm/s 2

Average acceleration:
aave = (720 + 684 + 792) / 3 = 732 cm/s2

The theoretical value should be a = g sin  = (9.81 m/s2)(sin 50)

= 7.51 m/s2

(The angle of the ramp was  = 50.)

Percentage error: (7.51 m/s2 - 7.32 m/s2)

----------------------------- * 100% = 6.5%
7.51 m/s2

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Conclusion: The acceleration of a car down an inclined ramp was measured using a ticker-
tape timer and found to be 7.3 m/s2 for a ramp inclined at 50 degrees. This
acceleration corresponds to a value of “g” of 9.56 m/s2 which is within 6.5% of
the accepted value of 9.81 m/s2.

A significant source of error is most likely the drag provided by the friction of
the ticker-tape. Any friction force would reduce the acceleration of the car,
which explains why the calculated value was less than the theoretical value.
Friction in the wheels of the cart is also another likely source of error. This
procedure could be improved by using a device other than the ticker-tape timer to
measure displacement, and a cart with less friction in the wheels.