Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Brad Huang with Michael Li, Christopher Tran and Faraz Shaba
April 9, 2015, Period 3
A. Questions to be investigated
1. How is the force applied to an object related to its acceleration?
2. How is the mass of an object related to its acceleration?
B. Lab Design
1. Diagram of the experimental setup:
Part A
Part B
2. Variable Analysis:
Part A
Independent Variable
Force Applied
Dependent Variable
Time
Control Variables
3. Data Collecting:
Surface, distance
Mass
mcart
Part B
Mass mcart
Time
d=5
m , same cart/timer
Force Applied F
C. Data Analysis
Part A
1. Table of Measured Data : Time vs. Force for the Cart Pulled for 5m
2. Table of Calculated Data : Acceleration vs. Force for the Cart Pulled for 5m
v i t )
a t 2 2( d
Big Five Equation: d =v i t+
, a=
2
t2
0m
(
a =
2 5.00m
0m
6.35 s
s
( 6.35 s )
) 0.25 m/ s
0.80
0.70
0.60
0.50
Best-fit Line
0.20
0.10
0.00
0
3.
Grap
h:
Slope of the best fit line, which represents the value of average acceleration
divided by force applied:
rise y 2 y 1
slope=
=
run x 2x 1
the graph : y 2 0.80 m/ s2 , y 1 0.27 m/s 2 , x 2=2.00 N x1=6.00 N
slope=
Newtons Second Law, F=m a , represents mass of the cart. The value of
1
7.69 kg , is quite close to the known
2
0.13m/ s N
right, and there is a linear relationship between force applied and the
acceleration of the cart. When there is more force applied, the acceleration
will be increased.
Part B
1. Table of Measured Data : Time vs. Force for the Cart Pulled for 5m
2. Table of Calculated Data : Acceleration vs. Force for the Cart Pulled for 5m
Best-fit Line
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
0 1.05 2.1 3.15 4.2 5.25 6.3 7.35 8.4 9.45
Mass of Cart (kg)
3.
G
raph:
4. Data Analysis
Judging by the graph above, the relationship between the acceleration
and the mass of the cart seems to be reciprocal, which means, the
product of the acceleration and the mass, which according to Newtons
Second Law, represents the Force Applied to the cart. A table of mass vs.
acceleration vs. theoretical force is need for an explanation:
The values in the column of Calculated Force are the product of the
previous two,
F c =mcart a
For example, the first piece of data, when
2
F c =1.05 kg 1.85 m/s
1.94
kg m
=1.94 N
s2