Report Free Fall

On this report we will try to estimate the acceleration (gravity) of an object in a free fall in the earth.
The acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. According to
Newton’s second law, acceleration is the sum of the forces acting on the object. In a free fall, gravity is the
only force acting on the object (in ideal circumstances). By calculating the displacement, the time intervals,
etc., we will estimate the acceleration of the object due to gravity.

The trial will be carried out by releasing a sharpener, into two photo-gates with a measured distance in
between, which is going to be the displacement in the equation applied to get the gravity. The photo-gates are
going to be connected to a computer that will save a record of the moment the object enters and exits the
laser, collecting 4 different times.
The object will be released exactly over the first laser to ensure that initial velocity is 0, reducing the
uncertainties of the calculations.
There will be a number of three trials, so that we have different results to compare, from which we can get an
average.

Therefore we will use:

• Photo-gates • Laboratory support
• Computer • Sharpener (object)
• Ruler • Box
What is expected of this test, is an estimation of the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s²). For this we will be
using the following equation:
Considering acceleration will be the gravity, we replace the a
s = u t + 1/2g t 2
for acceleration for the g of gravity

Supposing the initial velocity is zero, we can immediately

s = u t + 1/2a t 2 cancel the ut for initial velocity

Changing the multiplication for a half, for a multiplication for

s = 1/2g t 2 the double at the other side, multiplying the displacement (s)

Isolating the g, by dividing the displacement (s) times 2 by the

2s = g t 2 time (t) squared.

Therefore the gravity (g) will be calculated by multiplying the

2s /t 2 = g
distance (s) times two and dividing out by the time (t) squared

Therefore the data we will be using is the distance between “photo-gate 1” and “photo-gate 2”, which is 25
cm, and the time it took the sharpener from entering “photo-gate 1” to exit “photo-gate 2”, which is different
for each trial.
What we can expect from this experiment is an uncertain result because of all the uncertainties the
calculation has:
• Distance between Photo-gates is not exactly 25 cm since it was not precisely measured and the laser is in
the middle of the apparatus.
• The sharpener is not a uniform object, which can mean that it could have rotated in the middle of the fall
and misgive the times recorded. The sharpener has a length of 2,5 cm and a width of 1 cm, measurement
that also have uncertainties, so it could have a difference of 1,5 cm in the distance.
• The object was released with the hand, it was supposed to have an initial velocity of 0, but maybe it did
have an initial velocity which was not 0, because it was not exactly precise, and if so the equation would
have been different.
• External forces that affected the time taken, such as the air (friction).

Results table (“Worked data” in bold)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 AVG TRIALS

Time of entrance to the first photo gate (s) 4,476702 6,329645 2,826652

Time of exit of the first photo gate (s) 4,50711 6,362381 2,855593

Time of entrance to the second photo gate (s) 4,639986 6,509091 2,991094

Time of exit of the second photo gate (s) 4,652345 6,511895 3,001794

Time between gates (s) 0,175643 0,18225 0,175142 0,178696

Distance (m) 0,2625 +/- 0,038 0,2625 +/- 0,038 0,2625 +/- 0,038

17,020092 +/- 15,806082 +/- 17,11507056 +/- 16,64708152 +/-

Gravity (m/s2)
2,463860937 2,28811854 2,282009408 2,40986323
On the table we can see the moment the sharpener entered and left each of the photo-gates. The moment the
cronometre started does not affect the calculations, because all of the time between gates are similar.
The distance was measured by the distance between gates and half the sharpener so it would be the distance
from where the sharpener was in the middle of the laser. Uncertainties were measured from a margin of error
with the ruler estimating the distance between photo-gates and the probability the sharpener rotated in the
middle of the fall.
Using the formula g = 2s /t 2 we measured the gravity for each trial and the uncertainties, and after an
average of them all.
With those calculations we get that gravity is equal to 16,64708152 m/s2 with an uncertainty of 2,40986323
m/s2. The results are far from the actual value of gravity, but giving the uncertainties and the lack of
precision of the trials, is a good and suitable outcome.

If the trail were to be repeated, things to improve or change would be:

• The object, using a uniform object, such as a ball, would be an improvement for the test, because then
there would be less uncertainty, because there would not be margin of error as the difference of length
and width of the sharpener did, because the diameter of a ball is equal in all the object.
• Ensuring the initial velocity is zero. It could be by releasing the object mechanically instead of with a
part of the body, this could give a more accurate result.
• In the election of the object, there is an important factor which is, material and weight. Actually for the
equation of gravity the mass wouldn’t matter because it is not in the equation ( g = 2s /t 2 ) . But forces
like friction are still there, and they will affect the trials. An ideal way of measuring the gravity would be
in a vacuum tube, but since we do not have one, we can use an object that falls almost with the same
velocity with air as without. For example, a feather will not fall at the same speed as a rock, but in a
vacuum tube it will. The rock will have almost the same velocity and time, but the feather would have
changed in abundance. That’s why the election of the object is so important.
• Increasing the number of trials, to see how big the margin of error is. Having more trials, allows you to
compare more, and see if something went wrong.

It is possible to enhance the experiment, and maybe get more accurate results. But taking into account the
miss of precision, and errors along the trials it is a proper out-turn we got.