Accelerated+Motion+Lab+(ChelseaAshleySean)

=Lab Report Title= October 27, 2009


 * Participants**:Ashley Murphy, Chelsea Hart, Sean Hamilton
 * Purpose**: The purpose of this lab is to determine the 1)acceleration of a hover puck across a flat surface 2)a free falling 1kg mass 3) a free falling 500g mass.

a = delta**v** / t ||
 * Brief Description of Experiment**: This experiment required us to measure the distance on a tape made by a tape timer. The tape timer makes a mark every 1/60 of a second. We dropped the objects from the tallest height achievable on a chair. The objects were a hover puck pushed across a table, a 1 kg mass, and a 500 g mass dropped from a height. When the objects were dropped/pushed their accelerations were marked on the tapes by a dot. Then the spaces between each point were measured and recorded. Then each object's accelerations were found.
 * Data**:
 * Sample Calculations//://**
 * //Acceleration// || Acceleration is measured by the change in velocity over time.

velocity = distance / time ||
 * //Velocity// || The velocity is measured by distance divided by time in meters per second.
 * Results**: The acceleration of the 1kg mass was 8.73 m/s/s. The acceleration of the 500g mass was 1.26 m/s/s. The acceleration of the hoverpuck was 8.13 m/s/s.
 * Lab Questions**:
 * 1) **Which objects that you studied were clearly accelerating? How can you tell be looking at the motion of the objects? How can you tell by looking at the position vs. time graph? How can you tell by looking at the velocity vs. time graph?** //Both objects that were dropped were visibly accelerating, but it was very hard to see the acceleration of the hover puck. They cover ground faster when they are accelerating. The slope goes up when it's accelerating and it's a flat ling when it's not. When you look at the velocity vs. time graph the line is going to be sloped up when it's accelerating.//
 * 2) **Which objects that you studied were not accelerating? How can you tell by looking at the motion of the objects? How can you tell by looking at the position vs. time graph? How can you tell by looking at the velocity vs. time graph?** //The hoverpuck was only accelerating slightly. It appeared to be moving at a constant rate. Both graphs have a flatter, only slightly sloped line.//
 * 3) **What was the value of the acceleration of the 1kg object? Can you find a relevant value to compare this to for a "free falling object" near the surface of the earth? How do your values compare (% difference)? //Follow up:// If you also did a 100 g object, what was the acceleration and how does this compare (% difference)?** //The acceleration of the 1kg object was 8.73m/s/s. We also did a 500 g object and the acceler8ation of that object was 1.26 m/s/s.//
 * 4) **What is meant by a negative acceleration?** //Negative acceleration is when plotted in a graph, it is moving towards the negative x-axis.//


 * Conclusion**: This lab produced valid information. In the cases of the masses that were dropped, the results would be reproducible. Due to the hoverpuck being pushed, those results will vary between each experiment. Possible sources of error in this experiment could be in inaccurate measurments of the distance between the dots and mathematical error. Due to the high volume of calculations necessary to complete this lab, it is very possible a slight mathematical error could have occured. Our croup cannot think of any modifications to this experiment that would improve the accuracy or simplify the experiment.