Ella Wilson

Investigating Centripetal Force

Partners: Emily Wheeler, Nick Aitken, Alex Parthemer

November 22, 2010

Investigating Centripetal Force

Data Collection:

Raw Data:

Number of Number of Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

washers revolutions (s) ± 0.05 s (s) ± 0.05 s (s) ± 0.05 s
(± .2
revolutions)
4 10 7.50 7.90 8.05
6 10 6.44 6.60 6.50
8 10 6.19 6.35 6.09
10 10 5.87 5.54 5.51
12 10 5.02 4.90 4.85
14 10 4.78 4.45 4.66
16 10 4.14 3.96 4.06
18 10 3.84 3.87 3.75
20 10 3.57 3.45 3.55

Data Processing:
The average of the three trials for each number of washers is, e.g.,:

(7.50 s + 7.90 s + 8.05 s) ÷3 ≈ 7.82 s

To find my uncertainties, I took the range of the min and max of the three trials
and divided each data set by 2.

(8.05s - 7.50s) ÷ 2 = 0.275 s ≈ 0.3 s

 Number of Washers Average (s/10 cycles)
4 7.82 ± 0.3
6 6.51 ± 0.08
8 6.21 ± 0.1
10 5.64 ± 0.2
12 4.92 ± 0.09
14 4.63 ± 0.2
16 4.14 ± 0.09
18 3.82 ± 0.06
20 3.52 ± 0.06

To find the period of each value I will divide it by the number of revolutions, to
get the period (T).

6.51 s ÷ 10 revolutions = .651 ≈ 0.65 s

To find each uncertainty I took the maximum value of the average and subtracted
the minimum value of the average, then divided that number by two.

6.51 s + .08 s = 6.59 s

6.59 s ÷ 10 revolutions = 0.659 s

6.51 s − .08 s = 6.43 s

6.43 s ÷ 10 revolutions = 0.643 s

0.659 s − 0.643 s = .006 s

.006 s ÷ 2 = .003 ≈ 0.01 s

Force Period (T ± 0.01 s)

(Number of washers)
4 0.78
6 0.65
8 0.62
10 0.56
12 0.49
14 0.46
16 0.41
18 0.38
20 0.35
 Now to calculate the frequency I will use the value of the period that I have just
found. I will take the inverse of the value of the period to get the frequency.

1 ÷ 0.65 s = 1.538 s ≈ 1.54 s

To find the uncertainty of each frequency I will take the maximum value of the
frequency and subtract the minimum value of the frequency, then divide that number by
two.

0.65 s + .01 s = 0.66 s

1 ÷ 0.66 s = 1.52 s

0.65 s − .01 s = 0.64 s

1 ÷ 0.64 s = 1.56 s

1.56 s − 1.52 s = 0.04 s

0.04 s ÷ 2 = 0.02 s

Number of Frequency
Washers (f, Hz)
4 1.28 ± 0.02
6 1.54 ± 0.02
8 1.61 ± 0.03
10 1.79 ± 0.03
12 2.04 ± 0.04
14 2.17 ± 0.05
16 2.44 ± 0.06
18 2.63 ± 0.07
20 2.86 ± 0.08