General Physic Grade 11

FREE FALL
LAB REPORT

Ongsa Chantayasakorn 1102

Adhicha Chalermchuang 1102
Thanaree Wipawasu 1102
Petepat Harnpraween 1102
 INTRODUCTION

This report will be discussing

about FREE FALL, which is defined as
the motion of an object where gravity
is the only force acting on it with
gravitational acceleration of 9.8 m/s2.

With this theory, air resistance

and mass of an object are negligible.
This means the objects with two
different masses will arrive at the
same time with the same velocity
when dropped to the ground.

By proving this, we are going to

conduct an experiment by
MEASURING the height from the 4th
to 2nd floor and RECORDING the time
taken for the tennis and ping-pong
balls to drop to the 2nd floor to
calculate their velocity at the instant
time.
 OBJECTIVES

As we were studying FREE FALL, this

experiment is conducted to prove the free
fall theory by dropping the two objects with
different masses to the ground to find out
whether their velocities and times are the
same or not, using two equations that we
learned:

Vf2 =Vi2+2g ΔY

Yf=Yi +Vit + 1/2gt2

Additionally, we also wanted to find out

the distance using the recorded times and
compared with the measured height to see
the percent difference, using these two
equations:

Yf=Yi +Vit + 1/2gt2

2(height measured - height calculated)

(height measured + height calculated)
X100
 MATERIALS

o Measuring tape

o 3 tennis balls

o 3 table tennis balls

o 3 stopwatches

o Worksheet

o Pen
SET UP

4th floor

2nd floor
 PROCEDURE
1. Assign role for each member.
a. 3 timers at 4th floor.
i. Timer A Drop ball
ii. Timer B Take note
iii. Timer C Measure with a
measuring tape
b. 1 ball collector at 2nd floor.

2. Timer C measure the height from

the balcony to the ground.

3. Timer B note down the measured

height.

4. Timer A drop the ball and all timer

measure the time separately.

5. Timer B write down all timers

measurement.

6. Repeat for trait #2 and #3. Then

move on to next object.

7. Ball collector bring all the balls back

to the laboratory.
DATA AND RESULTS
TENNIS BALLS
Measured Height = 9.51 m (Tennis ball)
Trials Time (seconds) Average Average %
Time Distance Diferrence
Timer Timer Timer (second) (meters)
A B C

1 1.59 1.5 1.25 1.45 10.3 7.98%

2 1.5 1.57 1.53 1.53 11.47 18.68%

3 1.53 1.6 1.69 1.6 12.54 27.48%

Total average 1.52 11.43 18.05%

Calculation for distance and % diffrence

Distance % Diffrence

Formula: yf = yi + vit +1/2gt2 Formula: %diff = 2(height

measured - height calculate) /
Trial 1: yf= 0 + 0(1.45) + ½(9.8)(1.45)2 = height measured + height
10.3m calculate x 100

Trial 1: 2(9.51-10.3) / 9.51 + 10.3 x 100

2
Trial 2: yf = 0 + 0(1.53) + ½(9.8)(1.53) = = 7.98%
11.47m
Trial 2: 2(9.51-11.47) / 9.51 + 11.47 x
100 = 18.68%
2
Trail 3: yf = 0 + 0(1.6) + ½(9.8)(1.6) =
12.54m Trail 3: 2(9.51-12.54) / 9.51 + 12.54 x
100 = 27.48%

Total Average: 11.43 m Total Average: 18.05%

DATA AND RESULTS
TABLE TENNIS BALLS
Measured Height = 9.51 m (Table Tennis ball)
Trials Time (seconds) Average Average %
Time Distance Diferrence
Timer Timer Timer (second) (meters)
A B C

1 1.69 1.84 1.87 1.8 15.8 50.15%

2 1.91 2 1.81 1.9 17.69 59.68%

3 1.75 2.07 1.81 1.87 17.13 57.12%

Total average 1.85 16.9 55.65%

Calculation for distance and % diffrence

Distance % Diffrence

Formula: yf = yi + vit +1/2gt2 Formula: %diff = 2(height

measured - height calculate) /
Trial 1: yf= 0 + 0(1.8) + ½(9.8)(1.8)2 = height measured + height
15.876m calculate x 100

Trial 1: 2(9.51-15.876) / 9.51 + 15.876 x

2
Trial 2: yf = 0 + 0(1.9) + ½(9.8)(1.9) = 100 = 50.15%
17.63m
Trial 2: 2(9.51-17.69) / 9.51 + 17.69 x
100 = 59.68%
Trail 3: yf = 0 + 0(1.87) + ½(9.8)(1.87)2 =
17.13m Trail 3: 2(9.51-17.13) / 9.51 + 17.13 x 100
= 57.12%

Total Average: 16.9 m Total Average: 55.65%

DATA AND RESULTS
Calculate the instantaneous velocity (V)
from both objects
Instantaneous Heavy Object Light Object
Velocity
Time (s) V (m/s) Time (s) V (m/s)

When the object is 0.99 9.65 0.99 9.65

midway

At the instant the 1.39 13.65 1.39 13.65

object

Calculation for instantaneous velocities

Heavy Object Light Object

Formula: vf2 = vi2 + 2g(yf - yi ) Formula: vf2 = vi2 + 2g(yf - yi )

When the object is midway: When the object is midway:

Vf2 = 0 + 2(9.8)(4.755) Vf2 = 0 + 2(9.8)(4.755)

Vf2 = 9.65 m/s Vf2 = 9.65 m/s

T2 = 4.755/0.5 x 1/9.8 = 0.99 sec T2 = 4.755/0.5 x 1/9.8 = 0.99 sec

At the instant the object: hit the At the instant the object: hi the
ground ground

vf2 = vi2 + 2g(yf - yi ) vf2 = vi2 + 2g(yf - yi )

vf2 = 2(9.8 x 9.51) = 13.65 m/s vf2 = 2(9.8 x 9.51) = 13.65 m/s

yf = yi + vit +1/2gt2 yf = yi + vit +1/2gt2

T2 = 9.51/0.5(9.8) = 1.39 sec T2 = 9.51/0.5(9.8) = 1.39 sec

 ANALYSIS
● It took the ping-pong ball longer to reach the ground
○ Might be because its mass as mass in the real world
does matter
i. According to this formula F=mg
● If bigger mass of the object than the force
becomes larger
● This makes the object to drop to the ground
faster as its force is larger than the air
resistance.
● The distance calculated using tennis ball’s time is more
accurate than distance calculated using the ping-pong
ball’s time.
○ Because:
i. Air resistance
ii. Mistakes in recording time
● There were three people recording it.
○ Some of the recorders might stopped the
clock slower
● The recorders stopped the clock when they
heard the sound of the balls hit the ground.
○ The corridor was noisy as it was at lucnh
time, so sometimes the sound can’t be
heard clearly.
● The recorders also stood at the 4th floor which
made it harder for us to see when the balls hit
the floor or not

● With the calculation of finding the velocity at instant time

○ Results:
● Both balls had the same velocity and time
● This proved the Free Fall theory
CONCLUSION

It can be concluded
that two balls were not
drop at the same time
because of the air
resistance.
The equations that
calculates the velocity
shows that if air
resistance is negligible,
the time and the velocity
of both object will be the
same.
RECOMMENDATION

- In order to have accurate timing

from the 4th Floor where the balls
are released to the ground of the
2nd Floor, we should not have all
three persons releasing the balls
from the 4th Floor only, but have
only one person release the balls
who will start to record the time at
the time or releasing and then
have one or two persons wait at
the ground of the 2nd Floor to
record the time when the balls hit
the ground. I believe from doing
this, it will reduce error in time
recording for this experiment.

- In my opinion, the measurement

of height from the 4th Floor to the
ground of the 2nd floor before the
commencement of the
experiment should be made a
few times rather than only a single
time, in order to have the most
accuracy of the height.
 REFERENCE

Libretexts. (2019, September 22). 3.5: Free

Fall. Retrieved from
https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/
University_Physics/Book:_University_
Physics_(OpenStax)/Map:_University_
Physics_I_-_Mechanics,_Sound,_Oscil
lations,_and_Waves_(OpenStax)/3:_M
otion_Along_a_Straight_Line/3.5:_Fre
e_Fall.
 WORK LOG

Experiment
ONGSA Drop balls Timer A

ADHICHA Take note Timer B

THANAREE Measure the height Timer C

PETEPAT Ball collector at 2nd floor

Lab Report
ONGSA Data and Result,
Calculation,
Conclusion

ADHICHA Materials,
Set-up,
Procedure

THANAREE Introduction,
Objective,
Analysis and Result,
Reference

PETEPAT Recommendation,
Worklog,
Decorate and compose the slides