NAME Group 06 DATE PERFORMED January 19, 2023

Barrameda, Micheal Adrian DATE SUBMITTED January 27, 2023

Bonilla, John Villie INSTRUCTOR Mr. Ralph John Carlos
Genoguin, Rhon Jan
Genova, Mikeil Ivan
Quiambao, Aristotle John
Serrano, Niña Nicole
SUBJECT 4211 – EPHYSICS-L
SECTION 1CE – 104

Experiment No. 2
VELOCITY and ACCELERATION

OBJECTIVE:
1. To study the motion of a smart car.
2. To determine characteristics of the car’s position and velocity
3. To graphically represent velocity and acceleration

APPARATUS:

1. PAScar (1 piece)
2. PAStrack setup
3. Digital tablet with Sparkvue application

DISCUSSION:

The ability to describe motion is the basis of much of physics. To explain why objects move the
way they do, we must first be able to describe how an object moves. Velocity and acceleration
are terms often used to describe motion. These two terms, however, have different meanings
in science. The rate of change in an object’s position is called its velocity. An object’s velocity
describes how fast it travels and its direction of motion. The rate of change of velocity is called
acceleration. Like position, velocity and acceleration are vector quantities with a magnitude
(i.e., how much) and a direction (i.e., which way). Choosing a frame of reference when you
study
an object’s motion is up to you. Your reference frame will specify which direction is the positive
direction and which one is negative.

Graphs that show a change in position of an object over time (called a position vs. time graph)
and the change in velocity of an object over time (called a velocity vs. time graph) can help us
describe the motion of an object. On these types of graphs, the rate of change for the object of
interest corresponds to the slope of the line. For example, the slope of the line on a position vs.
time graph at a specific time is the velocity of an object at that time, because velocity is the rate
of change of an object’s position with respect to time. For a graph with a curved line, such as
those shown in Figures L1.1 and L1.2, the slope of the line at a given point in time on the graph
is defined as the slope of the tangent line to the curve at that specific point.

We use the term acceleration to describe any change in the velocity of an object. The
acceleration of an object can be either positive or negative. The direction of that acceleration,
however, is important because it may cause an object’s velocity to change differently. In this
investigation you will have an opportunity to explore the motion of a cart on a track in order to
explain how the movement of that cart changes when it accelerates in different directions.

PROCEDURE:

1. Take your Smart Cart out of the box.

2. Turn it on and open SPARKvue.

3. Wirelessly connect to the Smart Cart.

4. Change the sample rate of the Smart Cart Position sensor to 40 Hz.

5. Set up a graph of Velocity vs. Time and Acceleration vs. Time using the Position sensor’s Velocity
and Acceleration.

6. Set up the track as shown in the figure using the rod base and 45-cm rod.

7. Install the fixed End Stop at the top of the incline (see Figure 1), and an Elastic Bumper at the
bottom, using at least two pieces of elastic (see Figure 2).
 Figure 1: Inclined Track Setup Figure 2: Elastic Bumper

8. Place the Smart Cart on the track so that its +x-direction, printed on top of the cart, is pointing
up the track.

9. Put the Smart Cart at the bottom of the incline, with its force sensor end oriented up the incline.

10. Start recording and push the cart so it just barely reaches the top of the incline and then rolls
back down. Stop recording when it gets back down.

11. Examine the graphs and determine where the cart is:
a. going up the incline.
b. going down the incline.
c. at the top of the incline.

For each of these cases, is the velocity positive, negative, zero, and/or constant? Is the acceleration
positive, negative, zero, and/or constant?

12. When the cart is going up the incline, which direction is the velocity? Which direction is the
acceleration? Is the cart accelerating or decelerating?

As the cart moves uphill (below left), the component of gravity and the friction force are both
acting against the motion. This results in acceleration that we will call up. This is the acceleration
that slows the cart while it is going uphill, while the angle of incline increases, acceleration will
increase.

13. When the cart is at the top of the incline, the velocity is zero. Which direction is the
acceleration? Is the cart accelerating or decelerating?

Both of them are zero, indicating that the cart is still and not moving at all. This suggests that the
cart is neither speeding up nor slowing down when the velocity of the cart is assumed to be
constant.
 14. When the cart is going down the incline, which direction is the velocity? Which direction is the
acceleration? Is the cart accelerating or decelerating?

Then the cart is going down the velocity is also going to the same direction as the cart. As for the
acceleration, since it is inclined and the cart is going down fast the acceleration for it is also
going down. The cart is accelerating, it is speeding up rather than slowing down while going
downwards.

15. On the Velocity vs. Time graph, find the slope of the straight-line portion. Compare this to the
acceleration on the Acceleration vs. Time graph.

The speed of an object changes with time. The displacement, acceleration, and velocity of an
object, as well as its direction of motion, can all be calculated using this type of graph. The area
under a velocity time graph is equal to displacement, and the slope of the line in a velocity vs.
time graph is equal to the acceleration. Similar to how a Velocity Time graph depicts an object's
motion, the Acceleration-Time graph reveals an object's velocity.

DATA AND RESULTS:

Take screenshots of your graphs in SPARKVue and paste them here.

Level 1

Level 2
Inclined – 26cm

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS:

1. What is the difference between speed and velocity?

Velocity is the rate and direction of an object's movement, whereas speed is the time rate at
which an object is travelling along a path.
 2. What is the difference between speed and acceleration?

While acceleration reveals whether something is moving faster, slower, in which direction, and
whether it stays at a constant speed/velocity, speed is the quantity of motion or change in
motion of an object.

3. Draw a graph showing constant increasing acceleration:

4. What factors (accuracy of timing, object being timed, release of object, type of motion)
influence your experimental results? Discuss how each factor influences the result.

We think that the release of the object highly influenced the experiment because it depends
upon how fast it will go to be able to determine the velocity and the acceleration.

REMARKS AND CONCLUSIONS:

 We must use the apparatus quite cautiously because it is unsettling to use it for experiments
and because it is expensive. The link between acceleration and velocity is demonstrated in this
experiment. It examines how an item moves in a single direction and one dimension and how its
position, velocity, and acceleration change. Two primary motion types—constant acceleration motion
and accelerated motion—are depicted on the position versus time graph, each of which represents a
primary objective. The PAScar's speed can be calculated by graphing the displacement vs time, and its
acceleration can be calculated by plotting the velocity versus time. The PAScar is prepared to go on the
attack at the top of the ramp. It no longer has the momentum it did at the bottom of the ramp. Gravity
and friction both have an impact on how quickly the PAScar is programmed to descend the ramp. The
experiment was carried out under ideal acceleration, timing, and velocity conditions. As it goes down
the ramp, the cart speeds up. Even though only velocity is unpredictable, not direction. The conclusion
that the definition caused the acceleration is still a possibility.