Lab Competency - Kinematics and Forces

Introduction:​ Newton’s 2​nd​ Law of Motion states that the acceleration of an object is equal to the net force
acting on the object divided by the mass. This series of lab experiments will test this law.

Objective​: Determine how the force applied to a friction block, and its mass, affect its acceleration. Relate
observations to physics principles to confirm a = F​NET​ / m or in its more standard form; F​NET =​ m a.

Please refer to the supporting video for an overview.

Diagram​:

Pre-Lab Questions:
1. What force causes the system to move, and how will this force be measured/calculated?
The applied force causes the system to move because the action of exerting a force in the same direction as motion, the
system will also move some certain distance in the result of the force applied. This force can be measured by first finding
the net force using the formula Fnet = ma and then using the formula Applied Force = Net force + Friction force.

2. How will the acceleration be measured or calculated?

The acceleration will be calculated using the 3rd kinematic equation (Δx = vi t + ½at²) by first finding the distance
between when the friction block starts and when it stops. Since the initial velocity of the friction block is 0, plugging in
the average time it takes the friction move to move from the start to finish line will result in the acceleration
measurement (meters/sec^2).

3. Newton’s 2nd Law involves 3 separate variables. Which of these would be very difficult to keep constant?
(and EXPLAIN why! )

Newton's 2nd law is force = mass x acceleration. The variable which would be difficult to keep constant is the net force
because there are alot of other variable forces such as friction on the sliding mass, the friction between the rope and the
table, the friction on the table that could change the net force very easily and might be different at different areas.
Part 1:​ Effect of Changing Mass
Data​: Keeping the hanging mass (and thus the pulling force constant), place additional masses (books etc.) on the
friction block and measure the time for the block to move a fixed distance. Distance traveled = ___0.762____ meters

Tria Mass of Hanging Weight Time measurements

l# block + (Pulling Force)
extra mass Mass Weight Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Avg. Acceleratio
[ kg ] [ kg ] [N] [s ] [ s ] [ s ] [ s] n
[ m/s​2​ ]
1 0.59kg 0.41 4N 1.80 sec 1.79 sec 1.75 sec 1.78 sec 0.480 m/s​2

2 0.56kg 0.41 4N 1.60 sec 1.46 sec 1.50 sec 1.52 sec 0.659 m/s​2

3 0.38kg 0.41 4N .96 sec .97 sec .94 sec .957 sec 1.664 m/s​2

4 0.33kg 0.41 4N .67 sec .69 sec .70 sec .687 sec 3.229 m/s​2

5 0.20kg 0.41 4N .55 sec .53 sec .57 sec .55 sec 5.038 m/s​2

Analysis​:
1) Show the calculation for the car’s acceleration for the 1​st​ Trial. [ Hint: Use equation Δx = ​v​i​ t​ + ½at​² ]

Using the equation, Δx = ​v​i​ t​ + ½at​² and plugging in the variables, the equation becomes
0.762m = (0m/s)(1.78sec) + 1/2a(1.78sec)^2 which equals 0.762 = 1.5842a so acceleration is
0.480m/s^2.

2) Make a graph of ​acceleration​ vs. ​mass of block​. Place variables on the proper axes (dependent/
independent). Include a curve of best fit to demonstrate the relationship of your results.
Part 2:​ Effect of changing pulling force
In this Part, you want to change the pulling force by pouring water out of the water bottle, and determine how that
affects the acceleration. However, to avoid changing two variables at once, we need to keep the ​total mass of the
system​ (what is moving, by sliding and by falling) constant. The procedure below will help you do that:
1) Start with a full water bottle pulling the friction block, and an empty water bottle on top of the friction block.
Measure the mass of the bottle that will fall, and the friction block (plus any extra books you are using)
2) Measure the acceleration as you did in Part 1
3) Pour a known amount of water out of the falling water bottle, and into the empty bottle (on the friction block).
Measure or calculate the mass of both objects again, and measure the acceleration.
4) Repeat step 3 several times to get a range of pulling forces.
Distance traveled = __0.762_____ meters

Tria Mass of sliding Falling water Time measurements

l# objects bottle
(Block+ books+2​nd Mass Weight Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Avg. Acceleration
water bottle)
[ kg ] [ kg ] [ N ] [ s ] [ s ] [ s ] [ s ] [ m/s​2​ ]
1 0.512kg 0.38 3.75 1.19 sec 1.21 sec 1.20 sec 1.2 sec 1.06 sec

2 0.514kg 0.36 3.5 1.40 sec 1.42 sec 1.45 sec 1.42 sec 0.76 sec
 3 0.518kg 0.33 3.25 1.68 sec 1.79 sec 1.76 sec 1.74 sec 0.50 sec

4 0.520kg 0.30 3 4.20 sec 4.13 sec 3.98 sec 4.10 sec 0.09 sec

5 0.525kg 0.25 2.5 7.96 sec 7.70 sec 7.88 sec 7.85 sec 0.02 sec

Analysis:
1) Draw a diagram below showing ​all​ of the forces (​showing values for 1 trial​) acting on the friction block while it is
moving.

Force weight = 0.512kg (9.8N/kg) = 5.018N

Fnet = 0.512kg+0.38kg (1.06N/kg) = 0.945N
Applied force = 3.75N
Friction Force = 3.75N - 0.945N = 2.805N
 2) Construct a scatter plot (graph) of ​Weight Force (y)​ vs. ​acceleration (x)​. Note that although weight force is truly
the independent variable, analysis is simpler if acceleration is treated as the independent variable.

3) Plot a ​best fit line​ for your data. The best fit will probably not go through (0,0), but it should be linear. The
questions below relate to that line.
Outlier: Since 3N and 2N are fairly far from the force of 3.75N, and had much smaller accelerations, their slopes didn’t
match to the best fit line.

4) Calculate the slope of the graph {F vs. a} showing all steps and final units.

To calculate the slope, I will use the equation (y​2​ - y​1​/x​2​ - x​1​) and use the coordinate points on the graph that have a clear
y-value: (0.4,3) and (0.8, 3.5). So after plugging in the values into the equation, I get (3.5 - 3)/(0.8 - 0.4) which equals
0.5/0.4 = 1.25. The slope of the graph is 1.25 N/(m/s^2) or kg.
​
 5) What does the y-intercept of the graph relate to? It’s a force, but the force to do what, or what is the force
caused by?

Even though there is zero acceleration and the object is stationary, there is still a gravitational force pushing the object
down. There will still be some weight force because the weight is calculated as a measure of the mass of the object
times the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s^2). Since gravity only has an affect in the vertical direction, an object standing
still will still have an acceleration due to gravity which is 9.8 m/s^2.

6) The slope is the ratio of your y-variable to the x-variable. If you write that algebraically, what should it
correspond to, according to Newton’s 2​nd​ Law?

Newton's 2nd Law states that F = ma so when the equation is rearranged to find the mass, the equation becomes m= F/a
= N/(N/kg) = kg which are the units of the slope. So the slope represents the mass of the total system because it is the
force applied on the sliding objects from the water bottle/the acceleration of both the block and the water bottle which
results in the mass of the total system.

For example, the total mass for Trial 1 would be calculated using the total force value which is 0.945N divided by the
total acceleration (1.06 m/s^2) which would be 0.891kg (the total mass of the system).

Summary / Questions:
1) What would happen if an empty water bottle was used as the hanging mass?

If an empty water bottle was used as the hanging mass then there would be no force used to pull the friction block
across the table. Since the weight of the water bottle corresponds to the amount of force that is used to pull the friction
block across, if the water bottle has no weight then there will be no force used to pull the friction block.

2) What problem would occur if a large mass (~2,000g) was added to the hanging mass?

If a large mass was added to the hanging mass, the hanging mass would be much greater than the mass of the sliding
object. This being said, if the applied force of the sliding objects is much greater than the sliding mass, the acceleration
will significantly increase in the acceleration of the object.

3) What changes could you make to the experimental setup to ​decrease​ the graph’s y-intercept?

To decrease the y-intercept, the acceleration needs to be zero for a smaller weight of the sliding mass. Reducing
the weight of the sliding mass reduces the frictional force holding the sliding mass back. To still keep it from
sliding, the applied force from the hanging water bottle must also be reduced. This is accomplished by removing
more mass from the hanging water bottle.
 4) What changes could you make to the experimental setup to ​increase​ the graph’s y-intercept?

To increase the graph’s y-intercept, I would remove less water from the water bottle so that the hanging mass increases
and there is more force applied on pulling the objects which will cause the overall weight force to increase.

5) Imagine that instead of pulling the block horizontally, the block was placed on a slight incline, so that the
falling bottle would pull the block up the incline.
a) Explain how the block’s acceleration would change.

On an incline the component of gravity along the direction of motion is put against the sliding object which slows the
acceleration. So on an incline, the normal force is perpendicular to the block but gravity force is still straight down,
which is why gravity has a larger effect.

b) Explain how the graph would change (slope and y-intercept).

Slope would decrease because the acceleration would decrease at every value of mass. The y-intercept would decrease
due to a smaller friction force needed to keep the system stationary; with the incline, it would be harder to move the
block up. The smaller friction force is due to the component of gravity parallel to the incline helping to hold the system
back.