Republic of the Philippines

PRESIDENT RAMON MAGSAYSAY STATE UNIVERSITY

(Former Ramon Magsaysay Technological University)
Iba, Zambales
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Determining the Value of the Acceleration Due to Gravity

Submitted by:
Klevston Eliakim Santos
Kirby Joshua R. Bautista
Roselle Mae Anne Ines
Janiño De Vega
Russel Anulao

Submitted to:
Luciano M. Medrano Jr.
Introduction
Acceleration due to gravity is one of the most fundamental concepts in Physics. The

motion of an object within Earth’s locale is governed by the force that attracts the object, mono-

dimensionally, towards its center. This acceleration is a combination of Earth’s mass and the

centrifugal force produced from Earth’s rotation. The general theory is that acceleration due to

gravity— often denoted as ‘g’, has a value of 980.665 cm/s 2 (9.80665 m/s2) (The International

System of Units (SI), National Institute of Standards and Technology, p. 52, NIST Special

Publication 330, 2008 Edition)) near Earth’s surface. This means that any object will fall at the

same rate of acceleration of approximately 9.81 m/s2, that is if external factors are ignored (i.e.

air resistance).

Furthermore, gravity, in accordance to Newton’s law of force, affects the weight of any

objects as the law states that F= ma, where F is the force, thereby the weight, m as the mass of

the object, and a as the acceleration of the object. Since weight is a vertical force, the

acceleration could be given by the acceleration due to gravity. Therefore, weight can be

determined by multiplying the objects mass by the acceleration due to gravity. This pertains that

determining the value of ‘g’ accurately is fundamental to Physics and related subjects.

The measurement of gravity has been done countless of times throughout history. In

recent years however, people have developed very precise ways of measuring the acceleration

due to gravity using apparatus called gravimeters. These apparatus can provide very accurate

determination of local gravity with extreme resolution as it utilizes different materials and

method the provide precision. This is done by the automated instruments themselves minimizing

the errors encountered during tests. The underlying principle within these instruments however is
often narrowed down on the mechanics of a pendulum or the time it takes for a freefalling object

to reach a certain distance or height.

The aim of this experiment is to determine the rate of acceleration due to gravity by free-

falling objects minimizing the errors by repeating the number of observation to achieve a pattern

of stability of data distribution and then draw conclusion using this data with the standard laws of

statistics.

Review of Related Literature

Philosopher Aristotle asserted that the speed of which the object falls to ground depends

on its mass. This what was believed until many years later, in 1604, when an Italian scientist

Galileo executed and experiment to dispute the claim. The scientist is said to have dropped two

objects of different masses on top of the Leaning tower of Pisa— which both landed at the same

time. This lead to the conclusion that every object in free-fall falls at the same rate thereby

evidencing the universality of gravitational acceleration.

Additionally, there are three laws of gravitation which include Newton’s law of

gravitation, Kepler’s law of gravitation, and Gauss’s law for gravity. All of which provides

notable insight to how gravity works. These laws however often applies to large scale models

where the effects of mass between two objects are significant to one another (i.e. planetary

system models). Like stated, neglecting external factors such as air resistance, all small bodies

will have an acceleration at the same rate relative to center of mass which is given to be Earth

itself.

There are also given variations of acceleration due to gravity, of which being affected by

several factors. The parameters affecting the strength of Earth’s gravity, altitude, and local
topography. But most of these factors are often disregarded as the variations of gravitational

acceleration near Earth’s surface are relatively similar across different location. The latitude of

location, nonetheless, contributes most to the variation to gravity. This is because the inertia

produced by Earth’s rotation is stronger than at the polar latitude. The inertia also causes the

Earth’s equatorial bulges putting objects at the equator farther the Earth’s center.

In basic theory however, acceleration due to gravity can be described with kinematics. In

such manner, Galileo determined the rate of gravitation acceleration (Discourses, Galileo). As

such, an object undergoing a uniform acceleration along one dimension can be describe by the

motion equation:

1
x= a t 2+ v o + x o (Eq. 1)
2
Where x is the height, a is the acceleration, vo is the initial velocity, and xo is starting height.

If the object starts from rest and a reference point is chosen in such a way that the starting

position becomes 0 then equation reduces to:

1
x= a t 2 (Eq .2)
2

Which states the distance travelled by an object is proportional and the square of time
elapsed. Galileo, deduced this formula geometrically using Merton’s Rule of uniform
acceleration, also known as the “Mean Speed Theorem” which states that “Every quality, if it is
uniformly difform is of the same quantity as would be the quality of the same or equal subject
that is uniform according to the degree of middle point of the same subject(Nicole Oresme and
the Medieval Geometry of Qualities and Motion)— if the rate of change of quantity is constant,
it’s average value is halfway between final and initial value. This proves that:
 1
rate of change= a (Eq. 3)
2

Methodology
The materials used during the experiment are; digital stop watch, and a certain object.

The gathering procedure will simply be observation of multiple trials that will be conducted in

variations of a certain element. Ultimately, the experiments involved an object being dropped

from different height and the time it took for it to reach the ground is measured. The set-up for

the experiment was such that the object will be drop from rest, from hand at certain heights. The

height above ground will be first measured using a meter ruler. The researchers inferred that the

height should be no higher than 3 meters as higher height will increase external factors’ (such as

air resistance) effect to the object itself thereby increasing the rate of error of the experiment.

The object that was chosen to be dropped was a baseball. The weight of the object was not taken

as factor for the experiment. Without changing height, the trial is repeated three times and the

mean (average) time is calculated. This is repeated on several heights. From the recorded height

and it’s time of decent, a simple linear regression should be modeled— with height as the

dependent variable and time as independent variable. The slope of the regression should be the

value for the acceleration due to gravity.

BALL
VARIED HEIGHT

GROUND
LEVEL
 Figure 1.1 – A diagram of the Figure 1.2 – A picture of the
process to be conducted for the researchers conducing the
experiment. experiment.

Analysis of Results and Discussion

Below is the table containing the raw data from the experiment:

Second Average
Height First Trial Third Trial Avg Time^2
Trial Time
0.5 0.4 0.62 0.3 0.440 0.1936
0.75 0.54 0.24 0.42 0.398 0.1587
1 0.4 0.53 0.49 0.474 0.2250
1.25 0.48 0.46 0.46 0.467 0.2183
1.5 0.56 0.51 0.52 0.531 0.2824
1.75 0.7 0.54 0.61 0.617 0.3808
2 0.63 0.63 0.65 0.637 0.4053
2.25 0.72 0.70 0.68 0.699 0.4891
2.5 0.73 0.73 0.74 0.735 0.5400
2.75 0.79 0.76 0.76 0.772 0.5956
3 0.82 0.73 0.8 0.782 0.6116
Figure 2.1 – table of raw data acquired from the experiment.

Below is the graph of vertical displacement against time.

3.5

3
vertical Displacement/Height

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0.350 0.400 0.450 0.500 0.550 0.600 0.650 0.700 0.750 0.800 0.850
Time of Fall

Figure 2.2 Graph of height versus Time of fall

 As shown in figure 2.2 the vertical displacement-time graph, the raw data acquired

follows a parabolic function. This suggest that the data should be linearized first to be able to

acquire a valid model for the regression analysis. The graph indicates that there is a squared

relationship between the dependent and independent variable (Linearizing Data. (December 04,

2019). retrieved from www.mrwayneclass.com/labs/readings/index06.html,) . This would also

adhere to the theory that the displacement is proportional to square of time. Using the squared

time value against height, we obtain the following graph:

3.5

3
Vertical Displacement/Height

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0.100 0.200 0.300 0.400 0.500 0.600 0.700

Figure 2.3 Graph of height versus of Time of fall squared

This would suggest that we now have a valid data for a simple linear regression model.

Using R software, we created a simple linear regression model and obtained the following

correlation co-efficient:

b 0=−0.0562 , b1=4.8445
 Thus the linear regression model:

y=4.8445 x−0.0562

With x being the square of time elapsed during the fall, and y being the height of fall of

the object. The intercept acquired may be attributed to external factors such as air resistance that

the object encountered during the test.

Testing for the significance of the correlation co-efficient b1 by performing a hypothesis

test such that hypotheses are:

h0 :b1 =0h a :b 1 ≠ 0

We get a t-value of 14.613 and a p-value of 0.000000142.

Using the Analysis of Variance test we got a value an F-value of 213.5 and a p-value of

0.000000142.

Thus there is sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a significant linear relationship

between the square of the time the object fallen and the vertical displacement.

0.30000
0.20000 The randomess
0.10000
of errors was checked
0.00000
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Error

-0.10000 using the plot of errors

-0.20000
-0.30000
-0.40000
-0.50000
Data No.
against the average time acquired during the experiment. Using the plot as basis, there is reason

to believe that the errors are random and does not follow any trend or pattern.

Time Error
0.04 -0.38215
0.0529 0.03695
0.09 -0.34036
0.0961 0.24809
0.16 0.18798
0.1849 -0.03984
0.204304 0.09251
0.25 -0.06376
0.2809 -0.05999
0.3136 -0.07936
0.3249 0.09284
Figure 2.3 Table of
errors and time Figure 2.4 Graph of errors against time acquired from the
acquired from the experiment
experiment

Lastly, comparing the acquired model of relationship between height and time to

Equation 2, we can consider the correlation co-efficient as the acceleration and using Equation 3,

we acquire an experimental value for acceleration due to gravity:

1
4.845= g
2
m
g=4.845∗2=9.69
s2
Where g is acceleration due to gravity.

Recommendation
It was concluded within the limits values of the experiment that the average value of the

experimental value due to gravity was found to be 9.69 m/s 2 , while the theoretical acceleration

due gravity is 9.80665 m/s2 . After comparing the theoretical and acquired experimental values, it
was found out that there is a 0.11665 m/s 2 difference which is 1.18% difference. Although a

small factor, these may be enough to refute the experiment’s validity. The difference was caused

by the encountered errors such as the precision of the method use. As such, the researchers

recommended that future experiments involving or at least relating to the same subject to

practice precise methods of data gathering such as the use a device that can record time

accurately in the relation of the fall of the object.

Appendix

Appendix A- 1, Screen capture from R software while performing “linear model” function to
create a simple linear regression model from the data.
 Appendix A-2, Screen capture from R Software while performing a “summary” function to
perform a t-test on the created linear regression model.

Appendix A-3, Screen Capture from R Software while performing “ANOVA” function to use
Analysis of Variance test on the created linear regression model.