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4A Lecture Lab4

The lab focuses on investigating the acceleration of an object on an inclined plane in a low-friction environment, requiring students to complete a lab report detailing their methods, data, and analysis. Students must calculate theoretical and experimental acceleration, analyze uncertainties, and graph their results. The report should be structured to communicate findings clearly and allow for reproducibility of the experiment.

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19 views23 pages

4A Lecture Lab4

The lab focuses on investigating the acceleration of an object on an inclined plane in a low-friction environment, requiring students to complete a lab report detailing their methods, data, and analysis. Students must calculate theoretical and experimental acceleration, analyze uncertainties, and graph their results. The report should be structured to communicate findings clearly and allow for reproducibility of the experiment.

Uploaded by

winahyatno
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Classical Mechanics

Lab 4
The Air Track as an Inclined Plane
Week 5

Lana Sheridan

De Anza College

Feb 3, 2016
Overview

• Lab report

• Equipment

• Procedure for gathering data

• Data analysis
Purpose of the Lab

To investigate the acceleration of an object on an inclined plane in


a very-low-friction environment.

To gain experience with the standard deviation of measurements


and graphing on a computer.
Lab report

You need to do a lab report for this lab. The report will be due ??

You must record all data for this lab in your lab book.

You do not need to answer the questions posed in the lab in your
book, but you do need to answer them in the report.
Lab report

Style of the lab report: pretend you are a scientist. Your goals:

• clearly communicate precisely what you did, and the results


you got
• let others know exactly how to repeat your experiment,
confirm your results
• give an introduction to the reader of any theory involved
Lab report

What to assume about the reader:

• they do not know what was on the instruction sheet


• they do not know what precise equipment you used
• they already know how to use all of the equipment
• they are skeptical
Lab report
The lab report should contain:
• an introduction: what are you investigating in this
experiment, introduce a reader to what you did and how
• the hypothesis: the theoretical predictions you are trying to
test
• a description of the experimental procedure and all equipment
used
• your data / measurements
• analysis: how well did your data agree with the predictions?
• conclusion: Does the theory seem correct? Does your data
support it? If not, why not? If there are a few data points
that deviate from predictions, try to explain what may have
occurred. Were there any sources of experimental error? Were
they systematic or random? What would you do differently in
the future to improve this experiment? What other related
questions could you investigate in similar experiments?
Lab report

Other things:
• diagrams and tables are often very helpful
• do not make statements without evidence
• do error analysis or give percentage differences where
appropriate
Theory

You will need to find expressions for

• the theoretical acceleration of the glider, in terms of the angle


of the incline, θ, and g

• the acceleration of an object that has initial speed vi = 0, and


covers distance ∆x in a time t, assuming constant
acceleration.
6. THE AIR TRACK AS AN INCLINED PLANE

Air Track
quipment List:
One air track, blower, blower hose and power cord
One digital photogate and one accessory photogate
One glider
Five different riser blocks
Moving
One an air
flat plastic track box
accessory is a two-person job!
One meter stick

Your setup should look like this.

troduction:
You will calculate the acceleration of a body on an inclined, near-frictionless plane (the
ider on the air track). From this acceleration you can figure the angle of the inclined plane. Yo
ll then compare this calculated angle to your actual measurement of the angle and see how
Air Track End Brackets
Air Track End Reflectors
Blower
Blower Hose
Leveling the Air Track
Attaching a Flag to a Glider
Riser Blocks
Where to Put the Riser Blocks
Photogate Timers: Pulse Mode
Photogate Timers

Set the toggle switch located above the Start button to “1 ms”.

When it is set this way, the number on the screen is in seconds, so


long as you are in PULSE mode.

The times you will read out in this experiment will on the order of
seconds, unlike in the previous lab.
Analysis
Find your theoretical acceleration value, at , using your measured
value of the riser height, and trigonometry.

Find your experimental of “calculated” acceleration, ac , using your


measured time and distance.

You will have to find the uncertainty only in the experimental


value.

You will do this using the standard deviation.


r Pn
2
i=1 (ai − ā)
δa = σa =
n
Graph Analysis

You will make a graph of your average values of acceleration for


each of 5 incline angles against the sine of the angles.

Use a computer!

Use the “trendline” feature to find a best-fit line.

From the slope of that line you will be able to determine the value
of g .

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