Lab 3 Measuring Acceleration

Worksheet
Your Name: Trey Cross
If a car has an acceleration a, and if it starts from rest and covers a distance x in a
time interval t, then the acceleration of the car can be calculated as:

v2
a
2x
We will allow a car to run from rest a distance x and measure its velocity at the end
of distance x.
Watch the experimental set up and how I calculate the velocity of the car after it
has traveled a distance of x m.
A thin strip of wooden splint of width x erected on the car takes a time t to pass
the photo gate. The velocity of the car at the instant it passes the photo gate is:

x
t

The width of the splint x = 0.015 m

1.
Use the measured value of t to calculate the velocity.
Velocity = 4.7 m/s
2.

Write down the values of x and t for 4 more trials and calculate the
velocity for each trial. Use these values to complete the following table.

Trial

x (m)

t (s)

1
2
3
4
5

0.4 m
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8

0.0032
0.0032
0.0028
0.0051
0.0044

0.015
m/s
t

4.7 m/s2
156.25 m/s2
214.28 m/s2
137.25 m/s2
181.81 m/s2

v2
a
m/s 2
2x
27.5
156.25
178.33
98.03
113.63

3.

Calculate the acceleration for each trial in the last column using the given
formula.

4.

What is the average acceleration of the car?

114.74 m/s2

Professor, Im almost certain that I did this wrong. I followed the formula but the
numbers I was getting were much higher than the numbers you got in the video,
so Im worried that I may have done something wrong.