PHYS 172 LAB 07: Air Resistance : Falling Baking Cups SPRING 2020

LAB DAY: __________F__________ LAB TIME: __________3:30_________ LAB ROOM:________008__________

LAST NAME (ALL CAPS) YAO FIRST NAME (ALL CAPS) ZHUOWEN
PUID: 0030105486 LAB GROUP NUMBER 013
Goal: After completing this activity, you should be able to:
• Measure the position and velocity of a baking cup falling.
• Determine the drag coefficient C of the baking cup from its “terminal velocity.”
 Use the drag coefficient C and other parameters from the physical experiment to create a VPython model
of the baking cup falling.
• Connect physical experiment and VPython model Fig. 1

Falling Baking Cup Physical

Experiment Fig. 2
 You will make a video (on a cell
phone) of baking cups falling
vertically from a high L [Fig 1
and 2]. If your group number is
divisible by 3, use 3 cups. If
your group number +1 is
divisible by three, use 1 cup. If your group number + 2 is divisible by three use 2 cups.
The value of L should be between 1.5 to 2.0 meters. You can create your video in the
hall outside the room using the wall for reference. You can use the long ruler to record
the height. Make sure you are recording in the middle of the total distance traveled by
the cup, and remember to measure the value of the distance L (you should have the
cell phone plane completely parallel to the baking cup falling plane) [Fig 2].
 Download your video into the Lab computer.
 Open the program PASCO Capstone and open a Video Analysis Display (double-click on Fig. 3
the Video Analysis tool, Fig. 3). Click on “Open Movie File” and open there your video of
the baking cup falling.
 The video should appear on the Video Analysis Display with two tools on it in color yellow, the
“Coordinates Tool” (X and Y axes) and the “Calibration Tool.” The “Coordinate Tool” indicates the direction
of the measurements of positions that the Video Analysis is capable of doing. The “Calibration Tool”
indicates the real scale of the measurements to analyze. Drag the “Calibration tool” to cover the total
distance traveled by the baking cup when it is falling. Adjust the “Coordinates tool” such that the position
of the baking cup falling is measured as positive. Make sure the horizontal axes of the
“Coordinate Tool” is matching with one of the extremes of the
“Coordinate Tool” (It guarantees that the vertical measurements
start in an initial position equal to zero).
 Set the real distance traveled by the cup into the “Calibration Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Tool.” To do that click on the “1.00 m” that appears on one of
the ends of the “Calibration Tool” and change that value by the real distance traveled by the cup [Fig. 4].
 The Video Analysis software permits you to run the video frame per frame when you click the mouse. If
the frame rate of your video is 240 frames per
second, it will take too long to analyze your
video. In that case, change the number of
 frames per click to a reasonable number. To do that identify how many frames per second have your video
clicking again in the “Properties” tool [Fig 5], click on “Movie Playback,” and read the value in “Playback
Fig. 6 Fig. 7
Frame Rate” [Fig 6]. If that number is greater than 60, you need to adjust the number of “Frame
Increment” in the option “Overlay” [Fig 7]. For a “Playback Frame Rate” of 240 you need to set the
Fig. 8
“Frame Increment” to 5. It means that when you are tracking the motion of the cup in Video Analysis,
each time you click the mouse, five frames of the video will have been played. If your video has only 30 to
60 frames per second, you do not need to change the “Frame Increment.”
 Add one Graph Display. Set the “<SelectMeasurement>” of the graph in “Video Analysis” “Object # 1”
“vy, Object # 1 (m/s)” Vs Time. So, you will measure the velocity of the cup vs time. After setting the graph,
play the video until the moment when you release the cup and it starts to fall. Put the cursor on the center
of the cup and start to track its path when falling. Remember that when a cross appears on the cup click
the mouse and wait until the cup moves to the next position. An example of that process is in Figure 8
(video part). After each click, you can see how the graph is showing the data collected in the Video
Analysis. You will get a configuration like the example shown in Figure 8.
 You can smooth the curve using the tool “smoothing” in the toolbar of the graph [Fig 9]. You can get
something like Figure 10.

Q01. Look at the velocity graph and discuss with your team
(i) Does the shape of the graph makes sense. Why?
(ii) What is the value of the “terminal velocity” in the graph?
Remember the terminal velocity is the velocity achieved when
the weight of the cup ( F́ g) equals the drag resistance of the air (
F́ d) on the cup, it is F́ net= F́ d + F́ g =0. i.e. the highest value of
velocity. Fig. 910

It makes sense. Because at first, the velocity increases. After it reaches a high velocity, the velocity still increases
but it is in a diminishing level, and it becomes constant when it reaches the terminal velocity.
The terminal velocity in the graph is 1.87m/s.

EACH STUDENT MUST TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE GRAPH & PASTE IT BELOW.
PASTE GRAPH HERE

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 Now you will combine your data for terminal velocity with those of others groups in class
 On the board for all the class to see, make a table (if one did not do already) showing # of cups and
terminal velocity achieved. Write down on the table your value of # of cups used and terminal velocity
 To find the Drag Coefficient C you need to use the values of the terminal velocity gotten by ALL of the
groups that are displayed on the table on the board.

In

Get this from the ‘Trend line’ (Linear) in the graph.

pe in the values of terminal velocity based on data that various groups have written on the board.

Excel, use the template provided in Blackboard, to make a scatter graph of terminal velocity squared
m2
v2 ( )
s2
vsmass m(kg) (Hint: the mass of one cup is 0.0004 kg). On the other hand, the air resistance force is

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F d ≈ CAρ v 2, where C is the drag coefficient, A is the cross-sectional area of the baking cup, ρ is the air
2
density in the classroom, and the v is the terminal velocity of the falling cup. (Note: Density of air is
kg
¿ 1.184 3 ). You can download the Excel sheet template from Blackboard. In that file, enter the
m
3
 terminal velocity v t for different cups that you and other groups have collected. Enter the slope from
the trend line.
 A graph will appear. Right click on the data and select “Add Trend line”.
 Use the slope of the trendline and type it into the cell titled “Slope”.

Q02. Knowing the relation between air resistance force and the weight of the mass ( F́ d= F́ g ), and with the
2
2 m
( )
graph of the v t 2 vs .m(kg ), how can you find the value for the drag coefficient, C? Describe your
s
m2
2
procedure. (Hint: What is the meaning of the slope in the graph of v t ( )
s2
vs .m(kg ), ?)

First, we need to equal gravitational force to air resistance force, because when the cup reaches terminal velocity, air
resistance force and gravitational force are equal. Then we could rearrange the equation then solve for C, which is
drag coefficient. Next, we can substitute the velocity squared in denominator with the slope of the trendline in the
graph in the nominator, they will be cancelled out. This will result in the equation for C in
excel:2*g/(slope*area*density of air).

Q03. Calculate the value for the drag coefficient, c.

The value of C is 0.736.

EACH STUDENT MUST TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE EXCEL DATA & GRAPH & PASTE IT BELOW.
PASTE GRAPH HERE

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Computational Model of the Baking Cup Falling
You will now use VPython to model the baking cup that you analyzed in the physical experiment.
 Go to www.glowscript.org. In your MyPrograms folder, create a new program called “AirResistanceSim”
 Follow the link below and copy and paste the code from “AirResistanceSim” into your new program:
https://www.glowscript.org/#/user/phys172.labs/folder/Lab7/
Copy and Paste your URL Here >> https://www.glowscript.org/#/user/zhuowenyao/folder/MyPrograms/
 Read through the code carefully. Comment each line in the code, indicating what they do.
Q04: You will notice that the current code does not currently run the model. What needs to be added to the
AirResistanceSim template to produce a working model?

 Now you will modify the code to incorporate these changes. Recall that net force on the cup is given by:
F́ net= F́ g + F́ d
 Add code to the template to include the necessary update calculations. Add comments to your code to
describe what each new line does.
 Once your code is working, run your program and observe what happens. You can verify your simulation
by checking your output graphs against the behavior of your physical experiment graphs.
Q05: According to your simulation results, what is the terminal velocity of the simulated cup? How long does it
take to reach this velocity?

Q06: Does the order of the update equations in your loop affect your results? Why or why not?

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Q07: Change the size (diameter) of your baking cup. What effect does this have on terminal velocity? Report
each value you used in your answer.

Q08: Change the size (diameter) to its original value, and now change the mass of the cup. What effect does
this have on terminal velocity? Change the value of the mass to its original value and try changing the initial
height, as well. Does this impact your results? Report each value for mass and height in your answer.

 Now you will modify the code to reflect the values found during today’s experiment.
 Change the parameters of the simulation to use your values from your experimental data collection (drag
coefficient C, initial time, initial velocity, cups mass, density of the air, area of the cup, etc.)
Q09. After updating your parameters, what is the terminal velocity of the cup? How long does it take to reach
terminal velocity? How does this compare to the results found in your physical experiment?

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Q10. What assumptions does the simulation make about the falling cup? How do these assumptions affect the
data? (Hint: think about how shape affects your results)

Q11. Compare simulation vs. experiment for velocity vs. time. How are they similar? How are they different?

EACH STUDENT MUST TAKE A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE MODEL GRAPHS & PASTE IT BELOW.
PASTE GRAPH HERE
Q12. Suppose that the baking cup that you were dropping was conical in shape. What would need to change
in the simulation to represent this difference? How would you expect the graphs to change? [HINT: Think of
which parameter in the model accounts for the shape of the falling object.]

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Q13: To share your programs, navigate to your MyPrograms folder tab and copy the URL from the browser bar
into the box below:

Group Members’ Signatures Lab TA Sign

(Make sure all sign off on work) (GTA or UTA) BEFORE LEAVING, EACH PERSON IN GROUP MUST
 Get signatures of every group member and a TA in the
Zhuowen Yao Chen
boxes on the left OR type in their name.
 If you have printed it off, take photos of each page, and
Ben Cerneck
combine them into a single PDF.
Upload the completed file (Word or PDF) into Blackboard by
Jianxiang Tao 11:59 PM SATURDAY