In this lab we are going to measure the local gravitational field strength of the Earth in our classroom. We will need to make three measurements: the object's weight, its gravitational mass, and the rate at which is gains speed as it falls to the floor.

 

The equipment needed will include: a triple beam balance, a spring scale, a motion detector and it supporting computer-assisted software.

 

I suggest collecting data as a class activity.

 

 

	item's	gravitational mass	spring scale weight	ratio of weight/mass	slope of vel-time graph
trial	description	(kg)	(N)	(N/kg)	(m/sec/sec)

 

Open EXCEL and plot a graph of Weight vs Mass. This title means that you are to place Mass (kg) on the x-axis and Weight (N) on the y-axis. When all of the data has been graphed, add a trend line (line of best fit) and answer the following questions.