Accelerated+Motion+Taylor+Kyle+Wangene

=Lab Report Title= Date of Publication (Date of Most Recent Edits)


 * Participants**: Taylor and Wangene


 * Purpose**: The purpose of this lab is to determine the acceleration of (1) a hoverpuck traveling across a flat surface and (2) a free-falling 1 kg mass.


 * Lab Documents**: Include a link to any documentation provided for the lab or any references used in writing the lab report.


 * Brief Description of Experiment**: This experiment uses a tape timer to measure many points in the motion of an object. The device places a mark on a piece of paper every 1/60 of a second. Tape pulled through the tape timer by a moving will have marks that correspond to the position of the object. By attaching a hoverpuck or a falling weight to the end of the tape, the position of the object can be calculated over time, which allows a calculation of the velocity.

The three columns on the far right are: acceleration of the large mass, acceleration of the small mass, and acceleration of the hoverpuck.
 * Data**:


 * Sample Calculations**:

Use to find the acceleration of the large mass: delta("large mass")/ delta("X/60")

Use to find the acceleration of the small mass: delta("small mass")/ delta("X/60")

Use to find the acceleration of the Hoverpuck: delta("hoverpuck")/ delta("X/60")


 * Results**: The hoverpuck stayed at an almost constant speed with no acceleration, only varrying slightly from human error or machine error. This is because it is moving at a machine-given pace which is going to be constant and is only moving horizontally, so gravity cannot act upon it. Since the machine is making it move, there is no friction to slow it down either. The large and small mass increase their acceleration at about a linear pace, because gravity is acting upon them to cause them to fall faster (and increase acceleration). As with the hoverpuck, friction is not able to slow it down because it has nothing to react with but air.

1. Which objects that you studied were clearly accelerating? How can you tell by looking at the motion of the objects? How can you tell by looking at the postition vs. time graph? How can you tell by looking at the velocity vs. time graph?
 * Lab Questions**:

The small mass and the large mass that were dropped were clearly accelerating. You can tell by using the measured tape and examining the distance between the dots. You can see that the space between them gradually increases, which proves they are moving faster per 1/60 second. The position vs. time graph looks like a parabola, so that's another way of telling. In a velocity vs. time graph, the graph would be a straight line at a positive angle.

2. Which objects that you studied were not accelerating/ were accelerating slightly? How can you tell by looking at the motion of the objects? How can you tell by looking at the postition vs. time graph? How can you tell by looking at the velocity vs. time graph?

The hoverpuck we experimented with clearly did not accelerate.You can tell by using the measured tape and examining the distance between the dots. You can see that the space between them stays the same, which proves that is staying at a constant speedr 1/60. The position vs. time graph would look like a linear line with a defined slope. In a velocity vs. time graph, there would be a positive horizontal line representing it.

3. a. What was the value of the accelerationg of the 1kg object? Can you find a relavent value to compare this to for a "free falling object" near the surface of the earth? How do your values compare (% difference)?

b. If you also did a 100kg object, what was the acceleration and how does this compare (% difference)?

4. What is meant by a negative acceleration?

A negative acceleration is either slowing down or going in the reverse direction than the set positive direction.

> I believe that the experiment gave very accurate results because all of the results could be easily explained and had no details standing out. The masses accelerated because gravity helped accelerate them and the hoverpuck remained constant because it only had horizontal motion and no outside forces could act upon it. To make this experiment better, I think that the masses should be at a set height each time to give better results. Also, the hoverpuck should be given a longer distance to go and the person who pushes it should practice getting it just barely moving so that it doesn't get pushed really fast then returned to it's normal speed.
 * Conclusion**:

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