Ramp Control Lab Report
This is what I am trying to find out
In this experiment, I will be trying to find out how the height of the ramp affects the speed of the car.
Variables
Independent Variable
The independent variable is the height of the ramp
Dependant Variable
The dependant variable is the time it takes for the car to travel down the ramp, with that I will calculate the speed.
Control Variable
The control variables are the same person timing and releasing the car, same type of car, same ramp, same starting position and so on.
Plan
Equipments
In this experiment I will need the following epimpments * Toy car * Ramp * Stopwatch/stop clock * Measuring tape * Book/ objects to increase the height of the ramp
This is my plan for this experiment 1. Start by …show more content…
picking the equipments needed 2. Measure the length of the ramp and note it down 3. Get some books and stack them so they are exactly 20cm (because the car will stop if you set it to 10cm) 4.
Make a small mark of the starting point of the car to ensure that it is a fair test 5. Hold the toy car so its front is touching the starting line 6. Make sure that your partner is ready to start the stopwatch 7. Count to 3 so it helps your partner get ready to start the stopwatch 8. Release the car by letting go and immediately start the stopwatch 9. Stop the stopwatch when the car passed though the end of the ramp 10. Record the time taken 11. Repeat steps 5-10 twice so you get 3 sets of results 12. Stack more books to raise the ramp a further 10cm and use a measuring tape to check 13. Repeat steps 5-11 until you reach 1.4m 14. Average the results and using the average time work out the speed by dividing it distance by time
Prediction
I predict that the height of the ramp will affect the speed of the ramp. My scientific reasoning of this is because the greater the height of the ramp, the more gravitational potential energy it will have, therefore when the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as it moves down the ramp, it will convert more energy than a car on a low ramp, resulting is in a higher speed.
These are my
results
Results Height in meters | First try Time in seconds, | Second try, Time in seconds | Third try, Time in seconds | Average Time in seconds (3d.p) | Average Speed (cm/s) (3d.p) | 0.20 | 3.09 | 2.93 | 3.18 | 3.066 | 65.231 | 0.40 | 1.45 | 1.82 | 1.63 | 1.633 | 122.474 | 0.60 | 1.07 | 1.16 | 1.10 | 1.110 | 180.180 | 0.80 | 1.04 | 1.08 | 1.06 | 1.060 | 188.679 | 1.00 | 0.91 | 1.06 | 0.76 | 2.730 | 73.260 | 1.20 | 0.95 | 1.01 | 0.84 | 0.933 | 214.362 | 1.40 | 0.70 | 0.77 | 0.89 | 0.786 | 254.452 |
The times in red is where I think are inaccurate
Evaluating investigation
During this investigation there were several things I could not control, for example, the air resistance and friction caused when the toy car did not travel in a straight line but swayed to the side would have slowed the car down therefore increasing the time, also the friction between the wheels of the car and ramp would have slowed the car down. This is little I can do to stop the friction but I was to improve this experiment, I would use a ramp without a wall so the car will not slam into it and to reduce as much friction, I could try polishing the wheels. Another big factor which caused inaccuracy in the results is the fact that we are timing the time of the car ourselves. Firstly our partner may not have been ready or prepared to time the car and secondly it takes time for the eyes to send information to the brain and tell the hand when to press the stopwatch button and stop it. As the height of the ramp got higher it was harder to get accurate reading because the car was moving too fast. If I had better equipments, I would use light gates to get more accurate results To improve further, I would have blocks which are measured exactly to 10cm because when we were using books to stack we had books of different height and had to keep find the right height books. The books were also hard to stack because they were really heavy and after awhile they started to tilt.
In this experiment, I will be trying to find out how the height of the ramp affects the speed of the car.
Variables
Independent Variable
The independent variable is the height of the ramp
Dependant Variable
The dependant variable is the time it takes for the car to travel down the ramp, with that I will calculate the speed.
Control Variable
The control variables are the same person timing and releasing the car, same type of car, same ramp, same starting position and so on.
Plan
Equipments
In this experiment I will need the following epimpments * Toy car * Ramp * Stopwatch/stop clock * Measuring tape * Book/ objects to increase the height of the ramp
This is my plan for this experiment 1. Start by …show more content…
picking the equipments needed 2. Measure the length of the ramp and note it down 3. Get some books and stack them so they are exactly 20cm (because the car will stop if you set it to 10cm) 4.
Make a small mark of the starting point of the car to ensure that it is a fair test 5. Hold the toy car so its front is touching the starting line 6. Make sure that your partner is ready to start the stopwatch 7. Count to 3 so it helps your partner get ready to start the stopwatch 8. Release the car by letting go and immediately start the stopwatch 9. Stop the stopwatch when the car passed though the end of the ramp 10. Record the time taken 11. Repeat steps 5-10 twice so you get 3 sets of results 12. Stack more books to raise the ramp a further 10cm and use a measuring tape to check 13. Repeat steps 5-11 until you reach 1.4m 14. Average the results and using the average time work out the speed by dividing it distance by time
Prediction
I predict that the height of the ramp will affect the speed of the ramp. My scientific reasoning of this is because the greater the height of the ramp, the more gravitational potential energy it will have, therefore when the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as it moves down the ramp, it will convert more energy than a car on a low ramp, resulting is in a higher speed.
These are my
results
Results Height in meters | First try Time in seconds, | Second try, Time in seconds | Third try, Time in seconds | Average Time in seconds (3d.p) | Average Speed (cm/s) (3d.p) | 0.20 | 3.09 | 2.93 | 3.18 | 3.066 | 65.231 | 0.40 | 1.45 | 1.82 | 1.63 | 1.633 | 122.474 | 0.60 | 1.07 | 1.16 | 1.10 | 1.110 | 180.180 | 0.80 | 1.04 | 1.08 | 1.06 | 1.060 | 188.679 | 1.00 | 0.91 | 1.06 | 0.76 | 2.730 | 73.260 | 1.20 | 0.95 | 1.01 | 0.84 | 0.933 | 214.362 | 1.40 | 0.70 | 0.77 | 0.89 | 0.786 | 254.452 |
The times in red is where I think are inaccurate
Evaluating investigation
During this investigation there were several things I could not control, for example, the air resistance and friction caused when the toy car did not travel in a straight line but swayed to the side would have slowed the car down therefore increasing the time, also the friction between the wheels of the car and ramp would have slowed the car down. This is little I can do to stop the friction but I was to improve this experiment, I would use a ramp without a wall so the car will not slam into it and to reduce as much friction, I could try polishing the wheels. Another big factor which caused inaccuracy in the results is the fact that we are timing the time of the car ourselves. Firstly our partner may not have been ready or prepared to time the car and secondly it takes time for the eyes to send information to the brain and tell the hand when to press the stopwatch button and stop it. As the height of the ramp got higher it was harder to get accurate reading because the car was moving too fast. If I had better equipments, I would use light gates to get more accurate results To improve further, I would have blocks which are measured exactly to 10cm because when we were using books to stack we had books of different height and had to keep find the right height books. The books were also hard to stack because they were really heavy and after awhile they started to tilt.