PHYS 1400: PHYSICAL SCIENCE L A B O R AT O R Y M A N U A L

L ab 0 3 : C on st a n t A cc e lerat io n
INTRODUCTION
Galileo is very famous for inventing the telescope, and the subsequent
observations he made with it. He’s a little less famous for the experiments
that he performed using inclined planes, but these experiments set the stage
for Isaac Newton and his very famous Laws of Motion. Galileo’s careful
experiments were the first to clearly demonstrate the kinematic relationships
that we now accept as, well, pretty obvious. Notice that, even though they did
not have digital stopwatches or computerized data collection in the 17th
century, a pendulum clock provided accurate timekeeping. Reproducing
Galileo’s experiment is easy, and since we do have accurate data collection
methods, we won’t have to count the pendulum swings.

OBJECTIVES
๏ Verify Galileo’s observation that an object on an incline will move with
a constant acceleration
๏ Confirm graphically the kinematic relationship between distance
traveled and elapsed time
๏ Determine the acceleration of an object down an incline, and relate it Not literally Galileo, but a pretty accurate
to the slope of the ramp representation of the device he used to
๏ Compare the accelerations of uphill and downhill motions
measure constant acceleration.
EQUIPMENT
๏ LabQuest unit ๏ Photogate ๏ Dynamics track & cart ๏ Angle indicator

PROCEDURE
๏Mount both the photogate and the angle indicator to
the groove on the side of the dynamics track. Mount
the magnetic repulsion bumper to the opposite end of
the track, as shown in the figure. Raise the end of the
track to create a ramp, and record the angle of the
incline.
๏Plug the photogate into the DIG 1 channel of the
LabQuest. When you switch on the LabQuest, it will
not automatically find the gate. Under the Meter tab,
select the Sensor menu and choose Sensor Setup.
From the drop-down list, select Photogate for DIG 1
and tap OK.
๏Choose Data Collection from under the Sensor
menu. The unit is in Photogate Timing mode, but
now you will toggle the User Defined button. With
the stylus, swipe the numeric value to highlight it,
and when the keyboard pops up, change the value to
0.01 (and tap OK). This change is necessary, since the
smaller picket fence for the cart has a different
spacing than the default value.
Please do not let the dynamics cart crash into the bumper repeatedly!
๏Snap the small picket fence onto the dynamics cart,
and place it on the track above the gate. Adjust the
height of the photogate to insure that the small pickets
will break the beam.
๏ Switch to the Graph tab. You should see two plots: Graph 1 is Distance vs time and Graph 2 is Velocity vs time.
๏ When one person taps the Go button to begin data collection, another person should release the cart form rest, so that it
travels down the incline through the photogate. The LabQuest will collect and display the same position and velocity
data as previously.
๏ Release the cart form rest three times, making sure to save each trial by tapping the File Cabinet icon.
๏ Perform another three trials, but begin with the cart below the photogate. When one person starts the data collection,
another should give the cart enough of a push to send it up the incline and through the photogate. Catch the cart before
it heads back down the ramp. Make sure to save each of your trials, so that you can refer to them afterwards.
DATA
DOWNHILL d v s t: C o e f f i c i e n t A a = 2A ( m / s 2 ) a = S l o p e o f v v s t ( m / s 2) a v e r a g e a ( m / s 2)
RUN 1
RUN 2

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 PHYS 1400: PHYSICAL SCIENCE L A B O R AT O R Y M A N U A L

DOWNHILL d v s t: C o e f f i c i e n t A a = 2A ( m / s 2 ) a = S l o p e o f v v s t ( m / s 2) a v e r a g e a ( m / s 2)
RUN 3

UPHILL d v s t: C o e f f i c i e n t A a = 2A ( m / s 2 ) a = S l o p e o f v v s t ( m / s 2) a v e r a g e a ( m / s 2)
RUN 4
RUN 5
RUN 6

ANALYSIS
1. For each of the data trials, perform a curve fit on the position vs time curve.
According to our kinematic equation
x = vot + 12 a t 2
the graph should not be a line. In your notebook, sketch the shape of the curve
and write down the equation which best fits the curve. In this case, make sure to
record the coefficient “A” of the quadratic (squared) term. You will use this
coefficient to calculate the value of the acceleration of the cart.
2. For each of the trials, also fit the velocity vs time graph with a line. According to
our kinematic equation,
v = vo + a t
the slope of the line represents the acceleration of the object. Record the equation
of each line in your notebook.
3. If you have not yet, make a neat table to summarize your results for these trials.
An example is shown above.
4. You should have six separate values for the acceleration downhill, and six more
for the uphill trials. Calculate an average for the downhill trials, and another for
the uphill trials.
5. Record the shapes of the distance vs time and velocity vs time graphs in your
notebook. Compare the shapes of these graphs to the free fall graphs. The values
are not the same, but are the curves shaped similarly?
This is not actual data, but your
6. Fit each of the velocity vs time curves with a line. Record the slopes, which again curves should have the same shape.
represent the acceleration. Calculate the average acceleration for the downhill
data, and another average for the uphill data.
7. Compare the average downhill and uphill accelerations. Are they the same? Should they be? Explain why the uphill
trials result in a negative value for the acceleration.
8. The acceleration of an object on an incline is predicted to be:
a = g sin θ,
where g = 9.8 m/s2 and θ is the measured angle of the incline. Calculate this predicted value, and compare your average
downhill acceleration to the prediction by computing the percent error:

( )
pr ed i c t i on − a ver age
% er r or = × 100
pr ed i c t i on
9. What are some (different) reasons why your
experimental value does not exactly match the
prediction? How could you either improve the
measurements, or improve the prediction?
10. If the acceleration depends on the incline angle,
what happens if you increase the slope of the
ramp? What would be the steepest incline you
could have, and what would the resulting
acceleration be?
11. Refer back to your distance vs time and velocity vs
time graphs, and think about constructing a third
plot. What would a graph of acceleration (y-axis)
vs time (x-axis) look like for your data?
12. Examine the position vs time plot shown on the
right. How does this differ from the graphs of your
data? Sketch your prediction for the velocity vs
time graph. What is the acceleration of this
object?

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