Name: Dan Banh

Due Date: 11/20/2013

Block: B

Acceleration Lab Report

Abstract:

The daily act of skateboarding contributes somewhat largely to the discovery of speed and velocity.
When a skater skate down the track, their velocity changes. Usually, that changes in velocity is greater
and higher than the velocity from which they started. That is known to be uniform acceleration which
was experimented in a physics lab. The two photo gates were set up at the 8th hole of the physic stand.
One person at one end release the marble down the track repeatedly to record the data, and we kept
dropping the marbles at different placement of photo gate on the marble track. With all of the data set
in a table, the graph of the position vs time should resembles the equation of y = x2 or a shape of a
parabola. The equation of y=x (linear) should also match with the velocity vs time graph. The
prediction was 95-96 % so the mathematical model of the experiment was proved to be pretty reliable.

Materials:
– One marble
– A rolling track
– Two photo-gates
– Timer

DATA TABLE:
Photo-gate B position # Placement of PG B on track (cm) Displacement from PG A-B (cm) Time from PG A-B (s) Time through PG B (s) Velo through PG B (cm/s)
#1 10 0 0 0.0261 72.7969348659
#2 20 5 0.0938 0.0186 102.1505376344
#3 30 15 0.2137 0.0151 125.8278145695
#4 40 25 0.3067 0.0117 162.3931623932
#5 50 35 0.3806 0.0117 162.3931623932
#6 60 45 0.4504 0.0107 177.5700934579
#7 70 55 0.5115 0.0099 191.9191919192
#8 80 65 0.5689 0.0093 204.3010752688
#9 90 75 0.6206 0.0088 215.9090909091
#10 100 85 0.6692 0.0083 228.9156626506
95 0.7137

1. After the table, describe what happened to velocity of the marble as it rolled down the track
based on the data table.
- The velocity of the marble obviously increased as it rolled down the track. It started from
72.79 to 228.91.
 Graph

Position vs Time Of Marble

100
90
80
70
Position (cm)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Time (s)

2. From this graph describe with details what happens to the marbles velocity.
- As we can see from the graph, as the time increases, the velocity of the marbles also
increased. At the higher position, the time it took to get there will be longer and the velocity
will also be higher.

2. Create a velocity vs time graph using open office spread sheet and cut and paste it into your
summary.

Velocity vs Time for Marble

250

200
Velocity (cm/s)

150

100

50

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Time(s)

1. Does this graph support your answer from number 4?

- Yes the velocity vs time graph supported the answer from number 4 as it proved that the
velocity changed over time
 2. What does the straight line on the velocity vs time graph suggest about the marble's
acceleration?
- The marble's acceleration is constant because the the velocity is increasing linearly so the
velocity increases as time increases.

3. Show two velocity slope calculations below from the bottom of the graph and from the top of the
graph:

Math Equation Physics Equation

m = Δy/Δx = (y2 – y1)/(x2 – x1) v = Δd/Δt = (d2 – d1)/(t2 – t1)

V = 15-5/0.2137 - 0.0938 = 10/0.1199 = 83.40 cm/s

V = 75-65/0.6206 – 0.5689 = 10/0.0517 = 193.4 cm/s

1. Do these two answers support the idea that the marble speeds up as it rolls down the track as
describe in number 4 and 5 above? Explain.
- Yes the calculations clearly showed that at the beginning, the velocity of the marble was
83.40 cm/s and at the end, the velocity speeds up to 193.4 cm/s

4. Show one Area (change in displacement) calculation.

Math Equation Physics Equation

Area triangle = .5 b h Displacement = .5ΔtΔv
Area rectangle = l w Displacement = Δt vinitial
Δd = ΔdRectangle + Δdtriangle

Δrectangle = 0.2367 x 102.15

= 24.17 cm2
Δtriangle = (0.2367 x 60.24) / 2 = 7.12 cm2
Whole area = 24.17 + 7.12 = 31.29 cm2

1. Is this answer close to how far the marble really rolled within reason?
2. Show percent correct calculation.
– % Correct = 30/31.29 = 0.9587 x 100 = 95.87 %

5. Show one slope (acceleration) calculation:

Math Equation Physics Equation

m = Δy/Δx = (y2 – y1)/(x2 – x1) acceleration = Δv/Δt= (v2-v1)/(t2-t1)

Acceleration = (162.39-102.15)/(0.4504 – 0.2137) = 60.24/0.2368 = 254.39 cm/s/s

 1. Where the other two calculations close? What were they?
- Yes the two other calculations were quite close to one another. One of them was 248.49
cm/s/s and the other was 245 cm/s/s

1. Does this support you answer to number 5.2? Explain why or why not
- It does kind of support the answer to number 5.2. All of the acceleration calculations
were quite close to each other within 7 or below unit apart so the acceleration might
considered to be fairly constant.

6. Explain how you can predict the velocity of a marble by using both graphs.
- It is fairly easy to predict the velocity of a marble using both graphs. From the position vs time
graph, draw dotted lines down to the exact point that match in the velocity vs time graph and
continue the dotted line to the left and the predicted velocity number will be right there.

7. Explain how you can determine if there are sources of error and what could be accomplished to
minimize them.
– To minimize and exclude all the possible errors that could be made during the experiment,
the measurement and the recording time must match accordingly to the track.Having good
technique and approach to the method could also help to eliminate errors and problems.The
track was set up correctly and the photo-gates were placed exactly where they should be so
this laboratory experiment was done fairly.