Introduction
We will be examining the acceleration of a cart rolling down an incline plane. The inclination of the plane will be very slight so that only a small component of the gravitational acceleration will cause the cart to move. We will use the LabPro motion detector to record the position and velocity of the cart at different points of time for one trial.
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You will start by releasing a cart down an incline from a state of rest. If there is only one set-up, each group will go in turn until all groups have collected data.
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The LabPro will collect the data and display it for your group.
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In the table below, record the time, position, and velocity data for 8 unique times during the cart's descent.
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data point |
time |
position |
velocity |
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(sec) |
(m) |
(m/sec) |
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On graph paper, plot your data for the cart's Position (m) verses Time (sec). Make sure to clearly label your axes with units and to include appropriate intervals that will use the majority of the graph paper. This link will provide you with graph paper that you can print if needed.
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Data Analysis |
The methods to rectify, or linearize, a data set are listed below: -
for a hyperbola (where y is inversely proportional to x) you would plot the re-calculated data as 1/x | y.
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for a parabola (where y is proportional to x2) you would plot the re-calculated data as x2 | y.
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for a square root (where y is proportional to the SQRT(x), you would plot the re-calculated data as SQRT(x) | y.
You can study the lesson and examples on rectifying data patterns on this page.
- On graph paper plot your data in the above table (Question 6). Make sure to clearly label your axes with units and to include appropriate intervals which will use the majority of the graph paper.
Refer to the following information for the next three questions.
Conclusions
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A completed lab involves turning in all three graphs (Questions 4, 8, 10) as well as submit your results online.