Newton’s 2nd Law: Required Practical

Aim: To investigate how the acceleration of an object varies with the

resultant force applied on it for a small and big object.
Equations used in this practical:
F=ma (resultant force = mass × acceleration)
v−u
a= (acceleration = (end velocity – start velocity) ÷ time taken)
t

Variables:
- Independent variable(s): Sizes of object and force applied in any
direction
- Dependent variable: acceleration
- Control variable: Total mass involved in the experiment, i.e., the total
mass on both of the pulleys should be the same
Diagram:
*Space for diagram: to draw on paper and add in
In total, we do four experiments on the trolleys (big trolley and small
force, big trolley and large force, small trolley and small force, small
trolley and large force). In each of the experiments, the trolley is placed
on an air track and is passed through both of the light gates. Attached to
both of the trolleys are interrupt cards. These are used to reduce the
light in the light gate, and this allows the light gate to measure the speed
at which the trolley is travelling. Using an air track allowed us to
eliminate the possibility of frictions altering our results, as the trolley
travels on a cushion of air, which means that there is no friction as
friction can only occur between two solid objects in contact. By using the
light gates, we also got a more accurate measure of time as the use of
light means that there is almost no reaction time, eliminating any
systematic error due to the natural human reaction time that we would
have had to factor in had we used stopwatches instead. We could not
have used a ticker timer as it measures the time taken to the nearest
2
of a second, whereas we wanted our measurements to the nearest
100
1
of a second. By changing the trolleys, we are changing the first
1000
independent variable of the experiment, the size of the object. In our
prediction, we predicted that, the overall acceleration of the big trolley
should be lower, as the big trolley has more mass, so the acceleration
reduces as a result of the equation F=ma, because a larger mass with
the same force means that the acceleration should be slower. By
changing the arrangement of the masses on the pulleys, we are
changing the second independent variable of the experiment, the size of
the force applied in any direction, while also maintaining the control
variable of the total mass of the pulley system, which ensures that our
experiment is fair. In our prediction, we had predicted that the
acceleration when the resultant force is increased will be larger, again
due to the equation, F=ma, as the mass of the trolley remains the same,
F
but the force increases, so the value of m increases, resulting in a larger
value for a (which means a bigger acceleration). Our prediction for the
order of the experiments by size of acceleration is as follows:
- Small trolley, big force (the smaller mass and larger force lead to an
F
increased value for m , which gives a much larger relative
acceleration).
- Small trolley, small force = big trolley, big force (We didn’t have
accurate enough values for the size of the force and the mass of the
trolleys to give a prediction for this).
- Big trolley, small force (the larger mass and smaller force lead to a
F
decreased value for m , which gives a much smaller relative
acceleration)
Table of Results:
Our results are as follows in the table below:
Experiment/measurements u v t a
(m/s) (m/s) (s) (m/ s2 ¿
Big trolley 0.225 0.556 1.221 0.271
0.2 N
Big trolley 0.394 0.891 0.739 0.673
0.4 N
Small trolley 0.248 0.568 0.927 0.345
0.2 N
Small trolley 0.303 0.898 0.632 0.941
0.4 N
Conclusion + Evaluation:
By conducting our experiment, we can now place the different
combinations of sizes of forces and trolleys in a descending order of size
of acceleration, as below:
- Small trolley, large force (it had the largest acceleration of 0.941 m/s 2)
- Big trolley, large force (it had the 2nd largest acceleration of 0.673 m/s 2
)
- Small trolley, small force (it had the 3rd largest acceleration of 0.345
m/s )
2

- Big trolley, small force (it had the smallest acceleration of 0.271 m/s 2)
The experiment went as we had predicted, with the small trolley with the
large force having the largest acceleration, and the big trolley with the
small force having the smallest acceleration, and the other two in some
order in the middle. The experiment managed to also show us which of
the two in the middle had a larger acceleration, which was the big trolley
with the large force. However, as always, there is a chance of random
error, and one way we could have made sure that this was not the case
was by taking repeat readings, as that would have given us a good
average to work with. We could have also made sure with more
precision that the air track was completely straight, as this could also
affect the speeds that were recorded in our experiments, because
gravity would push the trolley towards one side, which could have made
our recorded speeds either faster or slower depending on which way the
gradient of top of the air track was negative (if it was negative in the
direction that our trolley was moving, then we would have recorded a
faster speed, and if it was negative on the other side, then we would
have recorded a slower speed).