motion
Lab #1: Uniformly Accelerated Motion
This is an example of a laboratory report. For a detailed description of how to complete a lab report, consult the laboratory manual. When writing your lab reports, use your own words. Do not copy from this sample or from the laboratory manual.
Your name:
Lab partners’ names:
PHYS 1.2 L
Section:
Instructor: Prof. Gelman
Date:
Objectives
To investigate the properties of a uniformly accelerated cart moving down an inclined plane. To measure the instantaneous velocity and to determine the acceleration of the cart from the slope of the velocity-time graph.
Theoretical Background
A cart moving down a smooth incline speeds up. This is a simple case of a uniformly accelerated motion in one dimension. The rate of change of velocity is constant or uniform. The rate of change of velocity is called acceleration. To determine the acceleration, one needs to measure the velocity at two different points along the incline, v and v0, and to measure the time t it takes a cart to move between the two points. Then the acceleration is given by,
The SI unit for the acceleration is 1 m/s2. This equation can be rearranged as,
This equation gives the future velocity v in terms of the initial velocity v0, acceleration a and elapsed time t. According to this equation, the velocity-time graph for uniformly accelerated motion is a line with a slope equal to a, and y-intercept equal to v0.
There is another important equation describing the motion of the uniformly accelerated cart. This equation determines the position of the cart along the incline as a function of the elapsed time,
,
where x0 is an initial position of the cart. The position-time graph is a parabola.
Procedure
1. Set up timers using DataStudio.
2. Using two photogates, measure time intervals Δt0, Δt, t.
1
3. Increase the distance between the photogates.
4. Measure the times for the new distance
Attach the tables with data from the laboratory manual.
This is an example of a laboratory report. For a detailed description of how to complete a lab report, consult the laboratory manual. When writing your lab reports, use your own words. Do not copy from this sample or from the laboratory manual.
Your name:
Lab partners’ names:
PHYS 1.2 L
Section:
Instructor: Prof. Gelman
Date:
Objectives
To investigate the properties of a uniformly accelerated cart moving down an inclined plane. To measure the instantaneous velocity and to determine the acceleration of the cart from the slope of the velocity-time graph.
Theoretical Background
A cart moving down a smooth incline speeds up. This is a simple case of a uniformly accelerated motion in one dimension. The rate of change of velocity is constant or uniform. The rate of change of velocity is called acceleration. To determine the acceleration, one needs to measure the velocity at two different points along the incline, v and v0, and to measure the time t it takes a cart to move between the two points. Then the acceleration is given by,
The SI unit for the acceleration is 1 m/s2. This equation can be rearranged as,
This equation gives the future velocity v in terms of the initial velocity v0, acceleration a and elapsed time t. According to this equation, the velocity-time graph for uniformly accelerated motion is a line with a slope equal to a, and y-intercept equal to v0.
There is another important equation describing the motion of the uniformly accelerated cart. This equation determines the position of the cart along the incline as a function of the elapsed time,
,
where x0 is an initial position of the cart. The position-time graph is a parabola.
Procedure
1. Set up timers using DataStudio.
2. Using two photogates, measure time intervals Δt0, Δt, t.
1
3. Increase the distance between the photogates.
4. Measure the times for the new distance
Attach the tables with data from the laboratory manual.