FREE FALL

EXPERIMENT CODE: M2

AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT

• Observat on of one-d mens onal mot on,

• Perform ng the free fall movement,
• Detect on of grav tat onal accelerat on under laboratory cond t ons.

EQUIPMENTS TO BE USED

• Meter,
• Stopwatch,
• Plast c ball.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Regardless of the d rect on of mot on or n t al state of the object, a force due to grav ty acts on all the
objects, caus ng an attract on towards the center of the earth. In case, a r fr ct on s absent or negl g ble, every
object falls towards the ground w th the same accelerat on no matter what the r we ght, structure or shape s.
Th s mot on s called the “free fall mot on”.
Free fall mot on s the one-d mens onal mot on of an object under the nfluence of grav ty alone. The
movement takes place vert cally, and whether the object s thrown upward, downward or dropped w thout
n t al speed, t eventually falls back to the earth.
The best example of l near mot on w th constant accelerat on s the nvest gat on of the mot on of an
object fall ng under the nfluence of grav tat onal accelerat on. For such a mot on, the d splacement of an
object n t me s expressed by the equat on M(2.1)

→ → → 1 →2
𝑥 − 𝑥0 = 𝑣0𝑡 + 2
𝑎𝑡 . (M2.1)

→ →
In th s equat on, “𝑥” represents the pos t on of the object, “𝑥0” represents the n t al pos t on of the
→ →
object, “𝑣0” s the n t al veloc ty vector of the object, “𝑎” s the accelerat on vector of the object, and “t” s
the t me that the mot on takes place. For free fall mot on wh ch occurs along the vert cal ax s, the equat on
g ven n Equat on (M2.1) can be rewr tten as follows

→ → → 1 →2
𝑦 − 𝑦0 = 𝑣0𝑡 + 2
𝑔𝑡 . (M2.2)

→ →
In th s equat on, “𝑦” s the pos t on on the vert cal ax s and “𝑔” s the grav tat onal accelerat on
(theoret cally -9.81 m/s2). Even f the object starts to move w thout an n t al veloc ty, the ex stence of an
accelerat on due to the grav tat onal force act ng on t should not be gnored, but t should be noted that the
n t al veloc ty of the object s v0 = 0 m/s. In th s case, the equat on descr b ng the pos t on of an object released
w thout n t al veloc ty s as follows.

→ → 1 →2
𝑦 − 𝑦0 = 2
𝑔𝑡 . (M2.3)

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 → → 1 2
Thus, an object released from a certa n he ght (h=|𝑦 − 𝑦0|= 2 𝑔𝑡 where 𝑔=9.81 m/s2) changes ts
pos t on proport onally to the square of t me under the effect of grav tat onal accelerat on.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

1. Release the object from the he ghts g ven n Table M2.1 w th an n t al veloc ty of 0.
2. Start the stopwatch as soon as the object s released.
3. As soon as the object h ts the ground, stop the stopwatch and record the t me.
4. Repeat th s process 4 t mes for each he ght.

DATA AND CALCULATIONS

Table M2.1: T me data for d fferent he ghts

h (cm) t1 (s) t2 (s) t3 (s) t4 (s) tmean (s) tmean2(s2) 𝑔 (m/s2)

120
140
160
180
𝑔mean
1 2
1. Calculate the value of 𝑔 us ng h= 2 𝑔𝑡 for each he ght and tmean2 value and record t n the Table M2.1.

2. Calculate the ar thmet c mean of the grav tat onal accelerat on (gmean).
3. Calculate the absolute error and relat ve error us ng the ar thmet c mean of the grav tat onal accelerat on
( gmean) for the exper mental value of g. (Accepted value for the grav tat onal accelerat on=9.81 m/s2 ) .

Absolute Error

𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = |𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒|

Relat ve Error

𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟
𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

QUESTIONS
1. Calculate the standard dev at on of the values of the grav tat onal accelerat on recorded n Table M2.1
us ng the follow ng formula.
1
𝑛 2
⎡1 2⎤
⎢ 𝑖=1 (
σ = ⎢ 𝑛 ∑ 𝑔𝑖 − 𝑔𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 ) ⎥
⎥
⎣ ⎦

2. Compare the absolute error and the standard dev at on you obta ned. Are they close to each other? What
does th s tell you about the success of your exper ment?

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