Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1) Cover Page- The cover page must have the title of the lab, the date, and your name on it. Your
lab partners’ names must be in parentheses underneath your name as well
2) Abstract- The abstract must give a basic overview of the lab. It must briefly explain what the
experiment is designed to do and how you did it (not in great detail, though). A basic summary
of your findings must also be included. The abstract should not be more than one paragraph
long
3) Introduction- The introduction must state what the intention of the lab is. This should be a very
short paragraph.
4) Procedure- The procedure must be written in paragraph form. It must be a very detailed account
of how you completed the lab. It must include the equipment that you used and how you used
it. You should also include which units everything will be measured in. This should be
approximately a paragraph long and should include enough detail that someone should be able
to complete the lab exactly how you did.
.126 m
vf = =.52459 m/s *it should be noted that the term “initial mass
.24019 s scenario” means the first three trials of each cart
Explosion Velocity Calculation Table: before the masses were changed. Initial mass
Cart Initial Final Velocity scenario means the trials in which mass of cart 1
Velocity = .50641 kg and the mass of cart 2 =.50613 kg.
Cart 1 (initial mass scenario) 0 m/s .52459 m/s Second mass scenario means when the mass of
Cart 2 (initial mass scenario) 0 m/s -.43402 m/s cart 1 = 1.01042 kg and the mass of cart 2
Cart 1 (second mass scenario) 0 m/s .25891 m/s remains unchanged.
Cart 2 (second mass scenario) 0 m/s -.56557 m/s
Summary Table:
Mass Scenario Initial Momentum Final Momentum Momentum Conserved?
1 0 kgm/s 0 kgm/s Yes
2 0 kgm/s 0 kgm/s Yes
Data:
calculation:
.126
v= =.5
.24019
calculation table:
Possible sources of error in this lab include the fact that the “frictionless”
tracks could not possibly be frictionless. The track that was used was
dusty (which is one of the more visible signs of friction present). Also, it’s
very hard to develop a truly frictionless surface. Although the track may
have been very smooth; it must have still possessed friction. This could
have skewed the data in a systematic manner, as it would cause the
velocities of the carts to be lower than their theoretical values.
Unfortunately, this is an error that cannot be feasibly solved, as perfectly
frictionless tracks do not exist. Another source of error was the fact that
two different photogates had to be used each time. It’s impossible to tell
whether or not each photogate had the same reaction timing. One may
have been less calibrated than the other. This would be a random error.
This error could be solved by using checking that both photogates are
equally sensitive by running controls through them and seeing if both
show the same time value. Another source of error in this lab would be
environmental conditions. There could have been randomly generated
gusts of winds from the air conditioning units. This would cause a
random error. The only solution to this error would be to conduct the lab
in a vacuum free of environmental errors. Unfortunately, this would be
impossible to do because the people conducting the experiments would
probably asphyxiate. Another source of error is air resistance. Air
resistance is not taken into account in these momentum calculations. Air
resistance would be a systematic error because it would cause the
velocities of the carts to be less than they theoretically should be. Again,
the only proper solution to this (other than calculating air resistance and
taking that into account) would be to conduct the experiment in a
vacuum.