Motion Down an Incline
Lab 1, problem 3: Motion Down an Incline
Shaoren Yuan
October 5, 2013
Physics 1301W, professor: Dr. Zudov, TA: David
Abstract
The processes of a cart rolling up and returning back along a track were recorded, and the processes (motion of the cart.) were described as equations. Also, we calculated the accelerations of every stage (aup, adown and ahighest). Then the relationship among aup, adown and ahighest was concluded. Finally, the acceleration was measured and was proved from data.
Introduction
If there is a car launched from the bottom of an incline and it goes up until reaching the highest point, then it reverses its direction. To ensure the safety under this circumstance, the accelerations of every stage need to be measured in order to study the relationship among them. Meanwhile, we need to know which acceleration is the biggest one. This real case now can be simplified as 1-dimensional motion in the experiments. During the lab, the Motion Lab&VideoRECOREDER was used to record the motion of the cart. After that, the accelerations were gained by calculating the slope of Velocity VS. Time graph. The accelerations and the relationship among them in every stage are gained from the graph.
Prediction
It was predicted that the acceleration would be a constant, as long as the angle, θ, between the track and the desk did not change. In other words, |aup|=|adown|=|ahighest|=g*sinθ, the directions of the accelerations were down toward the track. The following is the demonstration of my prediction.
The motion was broken into two components: X-axis and Y-axis. The X-axis was parallel to the track, and the positive direction was up along the track. The Y-axis was perpendicular to the X-axis. There were only two forces on the cart. One of them was gravity, which is always vertical down. Another force was normal force, and it was perpendicular to the track. The gravity was broken into X-axis component and Y-axis component. Since the angle between the
Shaoren Yuan
October 5, 2013
Physics 1301W, professor: Dr. Zudov, TA: David
Abstract
The processes of a cart rolling up and returning back along a track were recorded, and the processes (motion of the cart.) were described as equations. Also, we calculated the accelerations of every stage (aup, adown and ahighest). Then the relationship among aup, adown and ahighest was concluded. Finally, the acceleration was measured and was proved from data.
Introduction
If there is a car launched from the bottom of an incline and it goes up until reaching the highest point, then it reverses its direction. To ensure the safety under this circumstance, the accelerations of every stage need to be measured in order to study the relationship among them. Meanwhile, we need to know which acceleration is the biggest one. This real case now can be simplified as 1-dimensional motion in the experiments. During the lab, the Motion Lab&VideoRECOREDER was used to record the motion of the cart. After that, the accelerations were gained by calculating the slope of Velocity VS. Time graph. The accelerations and the relationship among them in every stage are gained from the graph.
Prediction
It was predicted that the acceleration would be a constant, as long as the angle, θ, between the track and the desk did not change. In other words, |aup|=|adown|=|ahighest|=g*sinθ, the directions of the accelerations were down toward the track. The following is the demonstration of my prediction.
The motion was broken into two components: X-axis and Y-axis. The X-axis was parallel to the track, and the positive direction was up along the track. The Y-axis was perpendicular to the X-axis. There were only two forces on the cart. One of them was gravity, which is always vertical down. Another force was normal force, and it was perpendicular to the track. The gravity was broken into X-axis component and Y-axis component. Since the angle between the