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Lab Report: Mohammed Humaid

This lab report summarizes an experiment to determine gravitational acceleration using free fall. [1] A graph was plotted of height versus average transit time squared from experimental data. [2] The slope of the best fit line gave the gravitational acceleration as 9.7674 m/s2, within 0.3327% of the actual value. [3] The intercept of the best fit line represented the height at which the line would intersect the y-axis.

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Talha Khan
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87 views6 pages

Lab Report: Mohammed Humaid

This lab report summarizes an experiment to determine gravitational acceleration using free fall. [1] A graph was plotted of height versus average transit time squared from experimental data. [2] The slope of the best fit line gave the gravitational acceleration as 9.7674 m/s2, within 0.3327% of the actual value. [3] The intercept of the best fit line represented the height at which the line would intersect the y-axis.

Uploaded by

Talha Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lab Report

GRAPHICAL PLOT AND INTERPRETATIONS

Mohammed Humaid
CLASS: | SECTION:
Table 1:
Height Transit Transit Transit Average Transit Average Transit Time
Time Time Time Time Squared
y (m) t1 (sec) t2 (sec) t3 (sec) (sec) (sec2)
1.0000 0.4495 0.4479 0.4482 0.4485 0.2012
0.9060 0.4258 0.4271 0.4259 0.4263 0.1817
0.7980 0.3986 0.3977 0.3991 0.3985 0.1588
0.6820 0.3675 0.3681 0.3627 0.3661 0.1340
0.5690 0.3340 0.3338 0.3335 0.3338 0.1114

Results:
(a) Graphical Plot:
A graph has been plotted between height and square of average transit time on a graph paper and is
shown below,

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Figure 1 Graphical Plot

Appropriate Scale of Graph:


The scale being used is given below:

On x-axis,
2
1 Big Division=0.02 sec
On y-axis,

1 Big Division=0.075 m
Where, the origin of the graph is,

Origin ( x 0 , y 0 )=(0.1, 0.5)(sec 2 , m)

(b) Slope of the Best Fit Line


The best fit line has been plotted on the graph as shown in Figure 1. The slope of the line has been
calculated and the calculations are mentioned on the graph. The resulting slope comes out,

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2
Slope of the Best Fit Line(m)=4.8837 m/sec

(c)Intercept of the best fit line


The intercept is the point of the line where it intersects the x or y-axis. In this case, the best fit line,
when extrapolated, intersects with the y-axis i.e. height. The y-intercept comes out,

Intercept=0.01125 m

(d) Gravitational Acceleration


Since we know that gravitational acceleration or g can be determined using the kinematic relation,

1
S=V i t+ g t 2
2
And for free fall conditions,

V i=0

Thus,

1 (1)
S= g t 2
2

Since we also know the line equation,

y=mx
In this case, it will be,

y=m t 2 (2)

Comparing (1) and (2),

1
m= g
2
Thus,

g=2 m
Substituting the value for slope will give,

g=2 × 4.8837=9.7674 m/sec 2


(e) Percentage Error
Since the actual value for acceleration due to gravity is,
2
g=9.80 m/sec
The percentage error in acceleration due to gravity can be calculated using below relation,

|g ( ¿ slope )−9.80|
Percentage Error= ×100
9.80

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Substituting the value will give,

|9.7674−9.80|
Percentage Error= × 100
9.80
Percentage Error=0.3327

Questions
1. Was the experiment accurate? Brief explain your reasoning.
Yes, the experiment performed gave accurate results. The accuracy of a measurement is its closeness
to the actual value i.e. a result having least percentage error is the most accurate one. In this
experiment, acceleration due to gravity is calculated which has a very small percentage error
(0.3327%) which confirms that the experiment performed was accurate.

2. Was the experiment precise? Brief explain your reasoning.


In this experiment, three readings for transit time at each distance have been taken. It can be seen
that each of those readings for a distance are same to the second decimal. The deviation from the
average value is also very small. These findings confirm that the experiment performed was precise.

3. What is the physical meaning of the intercept?


In linear algebra, the equation of a straight line having slope “m” is given as,

y=mx +c
Here,

c= y −intercept
When a best fit line is extrapolated towards the direction of axis, the point where it intersects the
axis is known as the intercept on that axis. In this experiment, the best fit line, when extended, gives
an intercept on y-axis i.e. height, hence known as y-intercept. The intercept is required to determine
the equation of straight line.

4. Do you think the value you calculated for intercept makes


sense? Brief explain your reasoning.
The intercept calculated in this experiment has been calculated by extrapolating the best fit line till it
intersects an axis. On the graph, it turned out to be,

y−intercept point location on graph=1.5 small divisions


Since,

1 Big Division on y−axis=0.075 m


Thus,

0.075
1 Small Division on y −axis= =0.0075 m
10
Multiply the small division with the number of small divisions where the line meets y-axis will give
the y-intercept value i.e.

y−intercept =( y−intercept point location on graph ) × ( 1 Small Division on y−axis )

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y−intercept =( 1.5 ) × ( 0.0075 ) =0.01125 m
Based on above reasoning and calculations, the calculated intercept is true and makes sense.

5. Do you think there was some systematic error in the measured


data? Was it in time or distance? Brief explain your reasoning.
In this experiment, the graph between distance and square of average transit time should be a
straight line but it isn’t; the graph obtained has slight deviation from straight line behavior. This could
be due to some error while,

 Measuring the transit time by stopwatch


 Measuring distance by a scale which has poor calibration and markings on it

5|Page

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