Newtons Second Law Experiment
Newton’s Second Law
How does a cart change its motion when you push and pull on it? You might think that the harder you push on a cart, the faster it goes. Is the cart’s velocity related to the force you apply? Or does the force just change the velocity? Also, what does the mass of the cart have to do with how the motion changes? We know that it takes a much harder push to get a heavy cart moving than a lighter one.
A Force Sensor and an Accelerometer will let you measure the force on a cart simultaneously with the cart’s acceleration. The total mass of the cart is easy to vary by adding masses. Using these tools, you can determine how the net force on the cart, its mass, and its acceleration are related. This relationship is Newton’s second law of motion.
[pic]
Figure 1
Objectives
* COLLECT FORCE AND ACCELERATION DATA FOR A CART AS IT IS MOVED BACK AND FORTH. * Compare force vs. time and acceleration vs. time graphs. * Analyze a graph of force vs. acceleration. * Determine the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration.
Materials
|POWER MACINTOSH OR WINDOWS PC |LOGGER PRO |
|LABPRO OR UNIVERSAL LAB INTERFACE |LOW-FRICTION DYNAMICS CART |
|VERNIER FORCE SENSOR |0.500 KG MASS |
|VERNIER LOW-G ACCELEROMETER | |
Procedure
1. OPEN THE EXPERIMENT (09 – DOUBLE CHECK THE TITLE) FILE FROM PHYSICS WITH VERNIER. THREE GRAPHS WILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 2.
[pic]
Figure 2
2. Connect a Student Force Sensor or Dual-Range Force Sensor to Channel 1 on the LabPro or Universal Lab Interface. (If you are using a Force Probe,
How does a cart change its motion when you push and pull on it? You might think that the harder you push on a cart, the faster it goes. Is the cart’s velocity related to the force you apply? Or does the force just change the velocity? Also, what does the mass of the cart have to do with how the motion changes? We know that it takes a much harder push to get a heavy cart moving than a lighter one.
A Force Sensor and an Accelerometer will let you measure the force on a cart simultaneously with the cart’s acceleration. The total mass of the cart is easy to vary by adding masses. Using these tools, you can determine how the net force on the cart, its mass, and its acceleration are related. This relationship is Newton’s second law of motion.
[pic]
Figure 1
Objectives
* COLLECT FORCE AND ACCELERATION DATA FOR A CART AS IT IS MOVED BACK AND FORTH. * Compare force vs. time and acceleration vs. time graphs. * Analyze a graph of force vs. acceleration. * Determine the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration.
Materials
|POWER MACINTOSH OR WINDOWS PC |LOGGER PRO |
|LABPRO OR UNIVERSAL LAB INTERFACE |LOW-FRICTION DYNAMICS CART |
|VERNIER FORCE SENSOR |0.500 KG MASS |
|VERNIER LOW-G ACCELEROMETER | |
Procedure
1. OPEN THE EXPERIMENT (09 – DOUBLE CHECK THE TITLE) FILE FROM PHYSICS WITH VERNIER. THREE GRAPHS WILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 2.
[pic]
Figure 2
2. Connect a Student Force Sensor or Dual-Range Force Sensor to Channel 1 on the LabPro or Universal Lab Interface. (If you are using a Force Probe,