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For each experiment you will submit a laboratory report. Laboratory reports are to be turned in at the beginning of the lab period, one week following the completion of the experiment. As a general rule, lab reports will not be accepted late. The laboratory report is to be used to express in a written form the purpose, methods employed, results obtained and conclusions reached in your experiment. It should be very neat, concise and complete. It should be prepared using a word processor for the text, spreadsheet software for tables, and graphing software for graphs.
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axes limits so that the region of interest occupies most of the graph. Choose font sizes that are sufficiently large to be easily readable. 4. Graph Modes You should adjust the graph mode so that individual data points are shown with some form of marker or with dots. Data values should never be connected with a jagged line. Show relationships that represent the best fit to data using lines with no markers. 5. Annotation Whenever a best fit is performed on a graph, the results of the fit should be clearly displayed on the graph. In the case of a linear fit one should show the values of the slope and the yintercept. Be sure to include also the associated uncertainties and units. It is a good idea to include a measure of the goodness of fit (either the chi-squared value or the linear correlation coefficient both discussed later) on the graph. Also, if possible, describe the physical significance of the slope and intercept as is done in the graph above. Finally, be sure to place your name (and your partners names if appropriate) and the date on the graph. 6. Uncertainty Bars Whenever the uncertainties of individual data values are known they should be represented on the graph with uncertainty bars (often called error bars) as is shown in the above graph. At the end of the laboratory report staple your DATA Sheets (12) that you used during the laboratory period to record important data and results. Here you should show an example of each calculation that is used throughout the experiment. You will want to write the equation that was used and then show the use of the equation with numerical values substituted into it. If you make a mistake then simply cross out the suspected error and write the correct result as is shown near (13).
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Joe Student
Partner: Sue Student
Abstract
The position of a system of two masses was recorded as a function of time using a spark-timer apparatus. Using these data the instantaneous velocity was
approximated by calculating the average velocity over 1/30 second time intervals. The acceleration of the system, which was calculated from the slope of a graph of velocity versus time, was 59.1 1.5 cm/s2. The value of the acceleration
predicted using Newtons Second Law was 60.9 0.1 cm/s2. The discrepancy between these two values for the acceleration of the mass was only 3%.
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Fnet = m a
(1)
The unbalanced force was supplied by a mass falling in the earths gravitational field as is shown in Figure 1. Mass M rested on a smooth horizontal air track and was attached to mass m by a light tape passing over a pulley. When the system was released M was pulled along the track by the force supplied by the suspended mass m. The air track and pulley had small openings through which jets of air were ejected to create a nearly frictionless surface. The two masses were connected by a very light recording tape on which marks are made every 1/60 second by a spark timer.
Figure 1 Geometry for Newtons Second Law Experiment We ignored the friction in the pulley as well as the friction between the mass and the air track. Also, the mass of the string was assumed to be negligible. With these assumptions Newtons second law was
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applied to m and M. The resulting system of equations were solved to eliminate the tension in the string yielding
a=
m g m+M
(2)
for the predicted value of the acceleration of this system. We measured the velocity of M by measuring the distance between marks on the tape and dividing by the time interval that occurred between the creation of the marks. A graph of velocity versus time was made. The slope of this linear graph was the constant acceleration of the system. This result was compared to the value predicted from Newtons second law given by Equation 2. Data and Analysis The masses of the system shown in Figure 1 were determined to be m = 10.23 0.02 g and M = 154.35 0.02 g using a mechanical balance. The position of the marks on the spark tape were measured using a meter stick and recorded to the nearest 0.02 cm in Data Table I. This table also shows the velocity at each twelfth dot which was estimated using the formula for average velocity
(3) where xi is the displacement between previous and successive dots and ti is the corresponding time (2/60 s = 1/30 s). The total elapsed time (ti) required for the mass to move from the zeroth dot to the ith dot was determined knowing that the dots were separated in time by 1/60 second. Results and Conclusion Graph I shows a plot of the velocity versus time. The slope of this graph is the experimental value of the acceleration of the system. Using a least-squares fitting package, the acceleration was found to be aexp = slope = (59.1 1.5) cm/s2. The value of the acceleration predicted by substituting measured values of the masses and g = 980 cm/s2 into equation (2) was (60.9 0.1) cm/s2. The percent discrepancy between the two values is only -3.0%.
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The good agreement between the measured value of the acceleration of the system and the value predicted by Newtons provides justification for the validity of Newtons second law. Much of the difference between the measured and predicted values of acceleration can be attributed to uncertainties in the measurements in the distance between dots. This measurement uncertainty is on the order of 0.02 cm. The displacement is then, using worse case propagation of error, uncertain by an amount 0.04 cm. The uncertainty in the velocity calculated from equation (6) is then 1.2 cm/s. For a typical velocity measurement this uncertainty is on the order of 2% accounting for most of the discrepancy. Additional sources of uncertainty include incorrect location of dots on the paper because the sparks may not be always perpendicular to the tape and friction along the air track and in the pulley.
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Data Table I
Position and Velocity of Falling Mass as Function of Time
Dot Number i
11 12 13 23 24 25 35 36 37 47 48 49 59 60 61 71 72 73
11/60 12/60 13/60 23/60 24/60 25/60 35/60 36/60 37/60 47/60 48/60 49/60 59/60 60/60 61/60 71/60 72/60 73/60
0.183 0.200 0.217 0.383 0.400 0.417 0.583 0.600 0.617 0.783 0.800 0.817 0.983 1.000 1.017 1.183 1.200 1.217
15.78 16.39 17.02 24.33 25.16 26.00 35.26 36.28 37.30 48.52 49.76 51.03 64.25 65.61 67.04 82.22 83.82 85.45 3.23 2/60 96.9 2.79 2/60 83.7 2.51 2/60 75.3 2.04 2/60 61.2 1.67 2/60 50.1 1.24 2/60 37.2
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