Lab – Galileo’s Inclined Plane

Purpose: To analyze accelerated motion on an inclined plane.

Materials:
 Track
 Cart
 Stopwatch

Instructions:
1. You will be recreating an experiment that Galileo carried out in the 17th century.
2. Prop the track up on a small object, like a textbook, to make a small incline.
3. Release the cart from rest and let it travel a distance of 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, and 50 cm.
Time the length of the trip. Complete five trials for each distance.
4. When you release the cart, move your finger away with the motion of the cart to prevent it from
being pushed back up the incline.
5. Fill in the following data table:

d (cm) t1 (s) t2 (s) t3 (s) t4 (s) t5 (s) tavg (s) v-bar vf a

(cm/s) (cm/s) (cm/s2)
10 d/tavg 2(v-bar) vf/tavg
20
30
40
50

6. Graph the following:

 Distance (y-axis) versus time (x-axis)
 Final velocity (y-axis) versus time (x-axis)
 Acceleration (y-axis) versus time (x-axis)
7. The standard conclusion should be used.