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Lab Partner: Drew Zoellner

Experiment 2: Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Introduction

Lab Objective: The lab is set up where there sits an air track elevated by a small block. Two
photogates are placed on top of the air track as sensors to let electronic timer knows when to start
and stop. The glider is place at the elevated end of the air track; then, it is released. As, it slides
through the first photogate, the timer starts, and once it exits the second photogate, the timer
stops. The number on the timer is then recorded on a data sheet as T. Delta t is the time it takes
for the glider to pass through the first photogate starting at initial velocity of zero. The data is
used in statistical physics equations and linear regression to find the initial velocity and
acceleration of the glider.

Hypothesis: I hypothesize that the velocity of the glider would increase at a constant pace as it

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move down the air track because the air track is elevated at a certain degree. The glider starts a
an initial velocity of zero and picks up the speed as it travels further down the air track. This

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shows that velocity is increasing. With a constant change in velocity, I can predict that the
acceleration of the glider will be constant.

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Summary: My partner and I explored the theoretically predicted acceleration and used it to
describe the velocity and acceleration of the glider as it moves down the air track. Our data does
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not agree with the theoretically predicted acceleration. It was a little off when compared with our
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calculated acceleration values.

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Specifics: The theoretically predicted acceleration value I got was 0.1117m/s^2. This value does
not agree within our uncertainties because when I plug 0.117m/s^2 into the equation
f(x)=133.26+233.63, f(x) turns out to be below my uncertainty ranges. The graph shows a nearly
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linear trend in points, which proves that the acceleration is constant throughout most of the
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experiment. The Y-intercept value is 233.63cm/s, which represents the initial squared velocity of
the glider. Theoretically, the initial velocity value equals to zero because the glider starts out at
velocity equals zero. If I continued taking more trials, then the future data would show that this is
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true. However, since there are limitations due to time, the value would get close to zero but never
equal zero .
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Error Analysis: The uncertainty of the meter stick is greater than the uncertainty of the
photogate, or any other precision instruments. This means that the meter stick would have the
biggest influence in uncertainty, which leads to errors. One of the main error I believed occurred
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in my experiment is that I started out using my hand instead of a pen/pencil to hold the glider in
its starting point at the beginning of the experiment. This causes increase in friction by the air
track on the glider, which gives a slower time. Therefore, affecting the velocity calculation.

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