T E M P L E U N I V E R S I T Y P H Y S I C S

Motion in One Dimension

Welcome to the virtual physics labs at Temple!

This experiment will serve as an introduction to the methods of video analysis and graphical analysis as well
as the fundamental concept of one-dimensional motion. The basic idea is that you record a video of the
motion of an object, then use video analysis software to measure the behavior of the object. You’ll then
compile the results into a brief report. Guidelines for writing the report and the grading scheme are described
in detail in the lab syllabus and grading rubric provided on the lab Canvas.

This experiment serves as an introduction to methods that will be used throughout the semester, so do your
future self a favor and take good notes and pay attention to detail. In particular, jot down notes on the
procedure, errors, modifications, difficulties, and the like because you will need to include these in the lab
report.

In addition, the same grading rubric and lab report guidelines used for this experiment will be used
throughout the semester. After your lab report for this experiment is graded look back at the feedback for it
Canvas to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes twice.

Learning Goals for this Laboratory:

 Practice collecting experimental data using video analysis.

 Practice graphing experimental data and extracting meaning from the results.
 Practice compiling results into a lab report.
 Understand one-dimensional motion concepts including displacement, velocity, acceleration, rate-of-
change, and time intervals.

Part I. Install Capstone and record the video

We’ll capture video of two different falling objects: one that achieves constant velocity and one that does
not.

a) Install the free trial of Pasco Capstone (https://www.pasco.com/downloads/capstone).

Note: this course will assume you have Pasco Capstone, however if for some reason it is not compatible
with your device, try installing Tracker instead (https://physlets.org/tracker/help/install.html). Though
Capstone is preferred, and Tracker is not as user-friendly, it has most of the same functionality and the
directions will be similar. Other video analysis apps will work as well. Contact Prof. Noel if you cannot
find one that works on your device.

b) Once you have Capstone installed, gather the objects you’ll drop and capture the video using the
following tips. If your computer with Capstone has a camera, you can directly record video into
Capstone. Otherwise, a smartphone or digital camera will work. If using a smartphone, you can save the
videos to Google Drive and download them to your computer and then open them in Capstone.
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c) Gather a ball (a tennis ball, golf ball, football, or similar will work), and a cotton ball. If you don’t have
either, then improvise. The idea is to have two very different objects, a heavy one that falls with
increasing velocity and a light one that quickly reaches a constant, a.k.a. terminal, velocity.

d) Tips for recording the video:

 Find a very well-lit area to record the motion so that it is not blurry. Outside on a sunny day works
best, but under a lamp on a desktop, or on a countertop under the lights in a kitchen or bathroom
should work as well.

 Place the camera far enough away to capture at least a meter or so of the motion of the objects.
Orient the camera so that the objects fall straight across the field of view, not toward or away from
the camera:

YES NO
camera

If using a smartphone, you’ll want to stand it up straight. If you don’t have a stand, cut a vertical slot
in the side of a cardboard box to hold the camera aligned vertically.

 For calibrating distance, place an object of known length in the frame at the same distance from the
camera that the objects will be. A ruler is ideal, but a sheet of paper or soda can, for example, will
work fine.

 Hit record just before you drop the objects so that the video is brief, and the file size is small. Drop
the objects quickly in succession. Record several tries until you’re sure you’ve got a good one.

 If using Capstone to capture the video. Open Capstone, double click Movie on the Displays toolbar
on the right side of the screen and choose Capture Video Only.

Part II. Video Analysis

We will now analyze the video. If during this process it is apparent a higher quality video will return better
results, repeat the above steps to obtain one.

a) If you recorded the video using Capstone skip this step, otherwise open Capstone and from the Displays
menu at right, double-click on Movie and open your movie. (If the video file doesn’t open, try using an
online video converter to make it an mp4).

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b) Click the “Enter video analysis mode” button on the toolbar at the top of the video (see figure below).
This toolbar has several other useful tools that you can explore.

c)

Video Analysis
mode

d) To define the coordinates and origin location for your experiment, click and drag the axes of the yellow
x-y coordinates tool, which appears overlaid on your movie by default. Put the origin at the bottom of
the video and adjust the y-axis as needed so that the motion of the falling objects is in the y direction.

e) Set the distance scale in your movie using the yellow caliper-shaped tool that is by default overlaid on
your movie. Adjust the ends of the caliper to line up to the length of the known object in the video.
Measure the size of the object in real life (if you need a ruler and don’t have one, you download and
install the app Physics Toolbox Suite on your phone and use the ruler tool). Enter the size of the object in
meters into the caliper’s text box in Capstone.

f) In the video navigation tools use the slider and the Next Frame button (see figure below) to advance the
video to the point where the object is freely falling. The other video controls may also be useful for
navigating to specific points in the video.

Next
Frame

g) You should now be able to click on the ball in the video and it will mark the location that you click and
simultaneously advance the movie by one frame. If the ball is small, try using the magnifying tool in the
toolbar at top. Repeat clicking on the position of the ball in the movie to track its movement. If you make
a mistake or want to start over, either create a new analysis object or delete the marks you made.

Optional: Before you start this step , make position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs for both x and y
motion, respectively and you will be able to see the graphs being populated with data in real time as you
mark the position of the ball.

h) Use the previous frame button to back the video up to the point you started analyzing object 1 and create
a new tracked object. Mark its location the same way as you did for object 1. The video should auto
advance each time you click.

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Part III. Data Analysis and Questions

a) Make a table of the position vs. time data in Capstone by double clicking on the Table option in the
Displays toolbar on the right. Click on <Select Measurement> at the top of the column and set one
column to be the y values for the ball and make the other column the y values of the cotton ball. Adjust
the size of the table using the handles on the frame around it and copy it into your lab report (ctrl-c or
right clicking on the frame will copy the table).

Question 1. Look at your table of position values. Calculate the difference between one data point in the
next for both the ball and cotton ball (you can do this on scratch paper or in your head, it doesn’t need to go
in your report)

Does the interval between the successive position values change much as the motion progresses for the
cotton ball? How about for the ball? Is this expected based on the assumption that the cotton ball reaches
terminal velocity? Use the interval values you found and the definition of velocity (v y = y/t) to support
your answer.

b) If you haven’t already made the graphs, do so for the y motion of the ball. Put the y position on the y-
axis of your graph, and time on the x-axis. Add the y motion of the cotton ball to the same graph by
clicking on the y axis title and clicking Add Similar Measurement. Note: you can change the scale using
the first two tool buttons on the toolbar (see picture below), or by dragging/scrolling the scale bars, or by
zooming in and out of the graph itself.

Question 2. Qualitatively speaking, how do the two data series differ in the graph?

Highligh Coordinate
Scaling Fitting
tools ter Tool
Tool

c) Now let’s fit the data. See the figure above to help you identify the data analysis tools. Because the
cotton ball doesn’t reach terminal velocity right away, fit only the last five points to a line. Do this by
double-clicking on a data point for the cotton ball data (or selecting its symbol in the legend). Then click
on the highlighter tool and drag the box to highlight the last five points, resizing the box as needed.

d) Click the fitting tool to activate it and click the down arrow to select the linear fit option. The fit line for
the selected data is now displayed on the graph. Record the slope of the line for your report (recall y =
mx + b is the equation for a line).

Question 3. Does the linear fit line up well with the last five points of the cotton ball data? If so, we can
safely assume that the y position changes linearly with time. What physical quantity is represented by the
slope in this graph?

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e) It doesn’t make sense to fit the data for the ball to a line because clearly the position of the ball doesn’t
change linearly with time. From the data you saw this two ways: one, by looking at how interval
between successive data points increased from one data point to the next, and two, by visual inspection
of the graph and seeing a curve rather than a line.

Another way to think of a curve in a graph is to think of it as line with a changing slope. To see this,
double-click on any data point on the curve to bring up the add slope tool like this:

Click on the tool and it displays the slope of the tangent line to the curve at this point. Now click on the
same data point a second time and it will give you left/right arrows. Use the arrows to cycle through all
the data points for the curve and note how the slope changes as you progress through them. Include this
observation in the data section of your lab report.

f) Copy the complete graph into your lab report. Make sure your graph includes the data for both the ball
and the cotton ball, as well as the fits, axes, axis labels, and legend.

g) Make a new graph of the y-velocity vs. time for the ball and cotton ball (both on the same graph). Copy
this graph to your report as well.

Question 4. Qualitatively speaking, how do the two data series differ in the velocity graph?

Question 5. What should be the slope of the cotton ball’s velocity vs. time data if it does indeed reach
terminal velocity on its way down?

Question 6. What physical quantity is represented by the slope of a velocity vs. time graph?

Question 7. Capstone only knows the framerate of the video in frames per second (which is embedded in the
video file) and the distance calibration you put in. Use the definition of velocity to explain how Capstone
calculated the velocity of the object with this information.

h) Set a column in the data table to show the y velocity of the cotton ball. Scroll down to the bottom of the
column to look at the last five values (the same ones you fit earlier). We can consider these as
instantaneous velocity values whereas the slope from your position vs. time fit is more of an average
velocity because it takes into account all of the highlighted data.

Question 8. How do the instantaneous velocity values for the last five data points of the cotton ball’s
velocity vs. time compare to the average velocity you got from the slope of your fit? Are the two consistent
with each other?

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For your lab report: See the grading rubric for what is to be included in your lab report. Be sure to include
the graphs, data, calculations, and answers to the questions, and synthesize all of it together in a detailed
summary.

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