Experiment No.

UNIFORMLY ACCELERATED MOTION

OBJECTIVES:
1. To study the motion of a body moving along an inclined plane
2. To calculate the uniform acceleration of the body from the obtained data.
3. To determine the acceleration from the slope of the speed–time curve.

MATERIALS: Ticker – tape timer, paper tape, inclined plane, wooden cart, meterstick,
jacky table

THEORY:
Velocity is speed with a specific direction. It seldom happens that the velocity of a
moving body is constant since in most cases the velocity changes from time to time. Motion
in which the velocity changes is called accelerated motion. Acceleration is the rate of
change of velocity.

c h ange∈ velocity
Average acceleration=
c h ange∈time

∆v
a=
∆t

When only the speed changes by a constant amount without a change in the
direction of motion, the body is said to be undergoing uniformly – accelerated motion.

PROCEDURE:
1. Incline the plane using a small angle of inclination or as your instructor prescribes. Set
up the rest of the materials as shown in the figure below. The paper tape is attached to
one end of the cart and inserted between the clapper and the carbon paper disk.
timer fastened
by clamp

metal or wooden cart

paper tape inclined plane

Figure 1

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2. Start the timer and release the cart. Stop the cart as it reaches the lower end of the
incline. Don’t ever let the cart fall on the floor. At the same instant, turn off the timer.

3. Mark the first distinct dot and label it zero (0). From the second dot, count off the dots
on the paper tape and mark every fifth dot 1, 2, 3, etc. Measure the total distance (in
centimeters) between the zero mark and every succeeding mark and enter your data in
the second column of Table 1.

4. Calculate the distance traveled during each time interval (a time interval is equivalent to
five dots) by getting the difference between two successive total distances.

5. Calculate the average speed during each time interval in cm/dot by dividing the distance
traveled during each interval by 5 dots. The 5 – dot count constitutes a time interval in
dots.

6. Calculate the acceleration in cm/dot 2 by dividing the difference between two successive
speeds by 5 dots.

7. Record your data in the respective columns of table 1. Make another trial and record
your data in table 2.

Graphs: (Note: Make three graphs for each trial. Use the time as the abscissa for the six
graphs)

1. Plot total distance against total time. Trace a smooth curve.

2. Plot average speed during each time interval against the midpoint of the time interval.
Draw the average straight line. Determine the slope of the line. Compare the slope
with the computed average acceleration and determine the percentage difference.

3. Plot the acceleration against the time interval. Approximate the best graph from the
plotted points.

4. Write the interpretation of each graph below it.

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 Palma, Ordonez, Perez, Ramales,
Name: Sanchez, Pacis Date:
Course, Year, & Section: BSIS-NS-1AB Group No. : Group 6

Experiment No. 2

UNIFORMLY ACCELERATED MOTION

DATA:

Table 1: First Trial

Total Distance Average Speed

Total Time
time traveled during during each
distance interval Acceleration
(dots) each time time interval
(cm) (5 dots) (cm/dot2)
Interval (cm) (cm/dot)
5 3.7 1 3.7 0.74
0.008
10 7.6 2 3.9 0.78
0.020
15 12 3 4.4 0.88
0.012
20 16.7 4 4.7 0.94
0.004
25 21.5 5 4.8 0.96
0.012
30 26.6 6 5.1 1.02
0
35 31.7 7 5.1 1.02
0.004
40 36.9 8 5.2 1.04
0.012
45 42.4 9 5.5 1.1
0.032
50 48.7 10 6.3 1.26
0.040
55 56 11 7.3 1.46

Average acceleration = 0.0144 cm/dot2

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Table 2: Second Trial

Average
Total Distance
Total Speed during
time Time interval traveled during
distance each time Acceleration
(dots) (5 dots) each time
(cm) interval (cm/dot2)
Interval (cm)
(cm/dot)

5 2.5 1 2.5 0.5

0
10 5.0 2 2.5 0.5
0
15 7.5 3 2.5 0.5
0.004
20 10.1 4 2.6 0.52
0
25 12.7 5 2.6 0.52
0
30 15.3 6 2.6 0.52
0
35 17.9 7 2.6 0.52
0
40 20.5 8 2.6 0.52
0
45 23.1 9 2.6 0.52
0
50 25.7 10 2.6 0.52
0
55 28.3 11 2.6 0.52

Average acceleration = 0.0004 cm/dot2

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CONCLUSION:

APPLICATIONS:

1. What is the difference between speed and velocity?

2. What do you understand by an acceleration of +2m/s2? of – 2 m/s2?

3. How could the experiment be modified to study the acceleration of a freely–falling body?

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