Acceleration
Acceleration from Gravity on an Incline
I. Introduction:
Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of a moving body. Galileo was the first person to actually experiment and examine the concept of acceleration back in the seventeenth century. Acceleration can be determined by calculating the gravity and an incline. An incline is slope that is deviated between horizontal and vertical positions. Gravity is the natural force of attraction towards the center of the earth. Because of this, we are able to calculate acceleration.
II. Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the relationship between the angle of an incline and the acceleration of a cart rolling down a ramp. Once our results were recorded, we were able to examine them to determine if our results were based upon gravity’s natural pull.
III. Procedure/Materials
First, we began by setting up our ramp and cart. We then used a motion detector and repeated our experiment five different times each with a different incline to roll the cart down. We recorded data after each time.
Lab Quest
Track
Dynamics Kit
Ring Stand
Vernier Motion Detector
Meter Stick
Calculator
IV. Data
Height, h (cm)
Length, x (cm)
Sin Ѳ
Acceleration Trial 1
(m/s2)
Acceleration Trial 2
(m/s2)
Acceleration Trial 3
(m/s2)
Average Acceleration
(m/s2)
10 cm
122 cm
0.082
0.128 m/s2
0.297 m/s2
0.127 m/s2
0.184 m/s2
15.5 cm
122 cm
0.127
0.345 m/s2
0.325 m/s2
0.340 m/s2
0.337 m/s2
24.3 cm
122 cm
0.199
0.704 m/s2
1.103 m/s2
0.717 m/s2
0.841 m/s2
7.5 cm
122 cm
0.061
0.275 m/s2
0.282 m/s2
0.377 m/s2
0.311 m/s2
11.5 cm
122 cm
0.094
0.372 m/s2
0.439 m/s2
0.344 m/s2
0.380 m/s2
V. Lab Questions:
1. The value we received from our graph was close to that of the accepted value of free fall acceleration, which is 9.8 m/s2. Our value was 240.15 m/s2.
2. Assuming the plane is frictionless, the acceleration value to an angle of 90° should give the accepted
I. Introduction:
Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of a moving body. Galileo was the first person to actually experiment and examine the concept of acceleration back in the seventeenth century. Acceleration can be determined by calculating the gravity and an incline. An incline is slope that is deviated between horizontal and vertical positions. Gravity is the natural force of attraction towards the center of the earth. Because of this, we are able to calculate acceleration.
II. Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the relationship between the angle of an incline and the acceleration of a cart rolling down a ramp. Once our results were recorded, we were able to examine them to determine if our results were based upon gravity’s natural pull.
III. Procedure/Materials
First, we began by setting up our ramp and cart. We then used a motion detector and repeated our experiment five different times each with a different incline to roll the cart down. We recorded data after each time.
Lab Quest
Track
Dynamics Kit
Ring Stand
Vernier Motion Detector
Meter Stick
Calculator
IV. Data
Height, h (cm)
Length, x (cm)
Sin Ѳ
Acceleration Trial 1
(m/s2)
Acceleration Trial 2
(m/s2)
Acceleration Trial 3
(m/s2)
Average Acceleration
(m/s2)
10 cm
122 cm
0.082
0.128 m/s2
0.297 m/s2
0.127 m/s2
0.184 m/s2
15.5 cm
122 cm
0.127
0.345 m/s2
0.325 m/s2
0.340 m/s2
0.337 m/s2
24.3 cm
122 cm
0.199
0.704 m/s2
1.103 m/s2
0.717 m/s2
0.841 m/s2
7.5 cm
122 cm
0.061
0.275 m/s2
0.282 m/s2
0.377 m/s2
0.311 m/s2
11.5 cm
122 cm
0.094
0.372 m/s2
0.439 m/s2
0.344 m/s2
0.380 m/s2
V. Lab Questions:
1. The value we received from our graph was close to that of the accepted value of free fall acceleration, which is 9.8 m/s2. Our value was 240.15 m/s2.
2. Assuming the plane is frictionless, the acceleration value to an angle of 90° should give the accepted
References: Google Lab Handout Notes Textbook