her Robert ae Q aa 7 ae A Physics 1 Cree Selo! Lesson 9 DIY Rollercoaster! PRE-LAB I. INTRODUCTION: Speed is occurring everywhere around us. Whether it is from the cars on our highway or the people walking from one class to the other, there is speed in every one of our motions. In addition to considering how fast we move, we should also consider the direction in which the speed is moving. Velocity is speed in a given direction. When the velocity of an object is changing, itis considered to be accelerating. To calculate ~ the acceleration of an object, you must divide the change in its velocity by the change in time, What causes an object to accelerate in the first place, you might ask? That can be answered if we look at Newton's first & second laws of motion. Commonly known as the Law of inertia, Newton’s first law states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an extemal force. Newton's second law, known as the Law of force and acceleration states that acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass; the greater the mass of the object being accelerated, the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate the object. When an object is being accelerated, it is also said to be experiencing inertia. All of these concepts combine to explain to us exactly what speed is and what happens when something speeds up or if there is a change in direction, In this lab, we will be manipulating these two laws and velocity itself to explain acceleration and how to solve for it. To do so, we roll a tennis ball down an elevated wooden plank (height will be able to be manipulated) and measure its changing velocity. In addition, this will allow us to visually analyze its aoceleration on a graph. In doing this lab, we will be putting the laws of newton in action, This acceleration lab conveys the importance of previous chapters very well because it incorporates all of the central ideas of the chapter into a single comprehensive experiment “wo Voeeligewad ves pak kegetler ery well nd Buy Ww vacers}erd)!Rover uae, YQ Physics 1 Lesson 9 aft PROBLEM: How does the height of the wooden plank (independent variable) affect the acceleration of the tennis ball (dependent variable)? IIT. HYPOTHESIS: \ |] believe that the higher the inclination of the wooden plank ramp is, the faster the change in velocity is and the faster the acceleration will be. DURING LAB 1. MATERIALS/PROCEDURES: t Materials needed: A. Inclined Ramp (or wooden board) B. Tennis Ball C. Stopwatch D. Meter sti E, Masking tape F. 2.3 books G. Pencil Procedure (Part A): t Place the wooden board on a flat area or table. ‘al Take the masking tape and place it across the entire length ofthe board, one inch from the outer edge. wl ‘At the end of the board, label on the masking tape point ‘D’ with a pencil. %/ Measure 40 em fom point D with the meter sik and label t point ‘C’. S/ Measure another 40 cm fiom point C and label it point ‘B’. ip Measure another 40 em ftom point B and label it point “A’. (At this point, there should be an extra 3-4 cin at the front of the board beyond point A).Robert Quach_ QQ Physies 1 Lesson 9 J settie wooden bord on top of tv books so that it creates an inclination gl. Place the tennis hail on the extra 3-4 inches at the top. This should allow the tennis ball to roll down the ramp by itself 4f Use the stopwatch to lap every time the tennis ball passes points B, C. and D using the lap function on the stopwatch. ([t should be noted that the time lapped for Point D indicates the time it took for the ball to travel from Point A 10 Point D). 101 Using the times acquired by the stopwatch, you can find the interval times of the points by subtracting each Total Time trial with the previous one, (For example, to find the Time Interval for Point € to Point D, you must subtract the Total Time it took for the ball to travel fom Point A to Point D with the , Total Time it took the ball to travel from Point A to Point C). AU). With knowledge of the distance interval (em) and the time interval (s), calculate the average speed of the tennis ball (in/s) in each interval, ‘S. Calculate the acceleration of each distance interval by dividing the change in speed with the change in time. “UJ. Create a data table and input the values, Procedure (Part B): Af. Set nother book on top of the other books to raise the height of the inclined ramp. 2] Repeat steps 8 3 fiom Part A, with a new data table.joe Robert Quach Physics 1 Lesson 9 V. DATA/OBSERVATIONS: Data Table for Procedure: Part A Distance Interval Total Time Speed ‘Acedleration (cm) © (nls) (os?) Point A to B (40 em) (AtoB) LL | Gt point BY 0265 mis Point B to C (40 om) (teoz (@t point C) 0580 mis Point Cfo D (40 em) (Ato D) 264s | (at point D) O10 ms Tn this data table, we used a height of two books to support the inclined ramp. As the tennis ball rolled down the ramp passing every point, the ball steadily got faster and faster. Acceleration and speed increased as the ball passed Points B,C, and D: Data Table for Procedure: Part B Distance Interval Total Time Speed Acceleration (cm) © (mvs) (wvs’) i Point A toB (40 em) (at point By 0.282 m/s | 0.1 = | (AtoB) 1425 Point B to C (40 em) [Guo iss (at point C) 0.755m/s | 1.495 mis | Point Cio D (40 em) [Gev2als (at point D) LIL mis 3.086 mi For the data table for part B, we used a height of three books instead of two, This will allow the tennis ball to roll much faster down the hill. As expected and as seen ffom the data, this resulted in a faster speed and faster total time for the tennis ball than part A.Reber t Qucicla eh, Lesaan * Analysis Questions: 1. Make a graph of the distance traveled (Y-axis) versus total time (X-axis) for Part A and Part B. Plot the points for Part A using a colored penal Plot the points for Part B using a different colored pencil. Connect the points creating a line. You should have two colored lines representing the values from two cifferent data tables. Your graph should have a legend. Suggestion: Use a range of 0 to 3 seconds for the X-axis, Use a range of 0 to 120 cm for the Y-velues / Graph J Tite Distance vg. Tune Ling. Geagh . 4 “caloced (ines, the polars ia Fs you con Fell Grom the hoo cal en ensae Ye ae = accobraving Foster thon che ones 7 Port Ay hone is « in et Tk dyatd aed WE rated Wygl he guts in enck ges ace Foster than He one before if.Rose Quack V thy sicel Flake te acocler, the questions in#2E%3 ace crouishet Zi WOE. TE my onguers in them ove oak coereck, plecse olins me te ‘clacihy. # q 2. Describe the slope of the distance vers: Does the slope change or stay the sam 3. Make a graph of speed versus total time for parts A and B, Time should be on the X-axis and Speed should be on the Y-axis, Does the slope of {ne line change or stay constant? Explain. (Using the same graph crea ‘wo different lines representing Part A a us {otal time for part A and part B 1e? Explain. and Part B) — aneat Graph { a vet 7 # Title s Time Line Grant hecee een Por h2 ry SS thie pegh, it “Geel ot tha bata Tn His geoph, it shaas Hae speed of the ba i igiode “peta of He actin camp. tk all potas (Arsceqording iotial) Whe Fendi teal ta park G has @ Packer speed and Fesler overall finws, tg conilasRobert Quach Physics 1 g Q Lesson 9 POST LAB VE. RESULTS {ANALYSIS QUESTIONS): U- (ee Distance vs. Time Line Graph on Graphs page tom [Data/Observations] section.) J ‘When comparing the two slopes of the lines on the Distance vs. Time Line Graph, they are not the same. The green line (Which is Part B) has a steeper slope than the red line (which is Part A). This means that during Part B of the experiment, the tennis ball is traveling much faster in the given distance, That proves to be evident When looking at the data tables (See Data Table for Procedure: A’and Data Table for Procedure B on Data Tables page fiom (Data/Observations] Section). The data shows thet when given a raised elevation, the tennis ball will fall down the inclined ramp much faster than from a different height. When this data is put in form a graph, itis better visually seen. So, in comparison to each other, the slope A for Part A is steeper and quicker than the slope in Part B, ‘The slope of the lines for Part A and Part B are not constant with each other. This graph is similar to the Distance vs. Time graph, in that part B produces an overall quicker result than part A. From this graph you can see that the data from part B hhas a quicker speed and a quicker overall time at each point. This is due to the higher elevation from the books that cause a much quicker speed and acceleration. Standard Review Questions: J How much time will it take for a person to walk the length of a football field (100 yards) at a constant speed of Sft/s? [Answer is: C. 60 seconds} Ri A student does an experiment to measure the acceleration of a falling object, which is 9.8 m/s". The student obtains an experimental value of 14.6 nus". The reason for this variation is most likely due to [Answer is: A. human error}Robert Quach Physics 1 0) J Lesson 9 VIL CONCLUSION: In this acceleration ab, we measured how much an object's velocity changes as it rolls down a structured inclined ramp. In addition, we examined the acceleration off the object and how much it increases from point to point. Our hypothesis was that if the inclined ramp was elevated higher (with the help of books) then the faster the change in velocity. This hypothesis proved to be correct as we experimented with two 4ifferent inclinations for the tennis ball to roll down. The first part ofthe experiment, Part A, had a height consisting of two books; Part B had a height consisting of three books. We learned that as the beight ofthe inclined ramp increased when moving fiom Part A to Part B, the acceleration ofthe tennis ball inereased as well: However, it should be noted that there is a possible error that occurred within the lab. The ‘wooden board provided is not a solid and straight surface, There could be points during the experiment thet are compromised due to the structure of the wooden board. Nevertheless, the execution of the experiment and the data tumed out as expected. ‘without significant fault to any possible errors. With the success of the experiment, ‘we can stat doing other experiments to further the study of how velocity can be changed. Possible experiments include moving the object indifferent directions with an inclination or decelerating the object on a ramp going uphill. The possiblities for experimenting velocity changes are endless, as not only do they give us a better understanding of physics but a better understanding of the world as well. This knowledge can be ascertained by everyday people in order to make better of their lives. They can use their comprehension of velocity and the manipulation of velocity in a variety of ways: better safety system for automobiles, knowing bow exercising and running affects the body, or even improving the stability of a rollercoaster. Velocity is happening all around us in all of our motions and ifwe are able to ianipulate the knowledge of this concept, we ean begin to improve our lives in very small and simple ways. Gr cenclasten