Ball Bearing Lab Report

Savannah Davidson
Elana Hann
Mathew Salas
10/31/2019
Physics C Session 1

Title
The Friction of Ball Bearings as the Normal Force Changes

Purpose
The purpose of the lab was to find out if a change in the normal force would create a change in the friction
force with a ball bearing on a cart and create a graph. By doing this lab, we can determine if friction force is
independent of normal force

Background
This investigation demonstrates the importance of ball bearings. It demonstrates if ball bearing are a reliable
method to reduce the force of friction acting on an object, and a reliable source for maintaining constant
friction.

Materials
● Car with ball bearings on the wheels
● String
● A weight with mass of .1kg
● A set of masses in increments of .1kg
● Rotary motion sensor
● Logger Pro

Procedure

Set up of the lab

1) Set a rotary motion sensor up at the edge of a table.
2) Tie a string between the car and weight, running the string over the sensor.
3) Set up logger pro to record the velocity of the string.
4) Release the weight from where it is hanging off the table, and record the velocity of the car.
5) Using the weight of the dropped weight as the force, find the theoretical acceleration without friction of
the system.
6) Next use the actual velocity to find the acceleration
7) Subtract the acceleration from the theoretical acceleration to find the force of friction for the cart.
8) Repeat steps 4-7 with weights of .1,.2,.3, and .4 kg added to the cart.
Data and Calculations
Graphs and Results

Graphs

Results

Mass(kg) Force of Friction(N)

1.074 .063

1.174 .064

1.274 .062

1.374 .063

1.474 .064
Analyses:

Graphical
The graph largely follows expected results. It has a very small slope, the expected slope being 0,
meaning that the data was relatively accurate. The graph shows that though there is a small amount of friction
the rate of change of the friction is 0, thus the friction is constant.

Procedural
The procedure seems to have been adequate.

Data and Error

The error was very small, thus there was little that could be done to improve on. The
most likely sources of error were human actions through the lab, and the reading of the data
given by the computers.

Conclusion

As the force of friction remained practically constant as the mass of the car was changed, it
appears likely that the ball bearings are able to reduce friction to such a degree that the resulting
friction is negligible.