Motion and Graphical Analysis
Lab 3
Qiling Yang
PHY 101, Online
Professor Gregory Stafford
July 21, 2013
Motion and Graphical Analysis Laboratory exercise 3 covers two experiments which are intended to analyze application of laws of motion.
Objectives
By the end of this two-experiment laboratory, students ideally will know how to analyze displacement, velocity, and acceleration in terms of time for objects in motion with a constant acceleration in a straight line. In addition, students will master how to calculate the slope of a displacement-time graph to determine the velocity of an object in motion at a constant velocity and the slope of a velocity-time graph to determine the acceleration of an object.
Materials
In experiment 1, students prepare two strips of paper tape and scotch tape and a ruler.
Procedure
In experiment 1, first, cut tape 1 and tape 2 from the Lab 3 in the study guide and then mark the time intervals from 0.1 s to 0.8 s on tape 1 and from 0.1 s to 1.4 s on tape 2 in order to measure object displacement data easily. Second, measure the displacement between 0s and 1s, 1s and 2s, etc. Third, record these displacement and time data by designing and filling in one Excel spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet, calculate the average velocity and the average acceleration. Fourth, use Excel to create the displacement-time and velocity-time graphs. For experiment 2, first, record the data from position versus time for a car travelling on the highway that passes each person shown on the table in Lab 3 in the study guide. Second, calculate the average velocity of the car and by designing a position vs. time graph and calculating the slope.
Data and Calculations For experiments 1 and 2, use the equations velocity = change in displacement/ time interval and acceleration = change in velocity/ time interval to