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Required-Practical-Write-Up-Determination of G by A Free-Fall Method

The document outlines a practical experiment to determine the acceleration due to gravity (g) using a free-fall method. It includes objectives, equipment, variables, risk assessments, methods, results, and conclusions, with a calculated value for g of 9.56 ± 0.31 ms^-2. Potential sources of error are also identified, including issues with timer visibility and initial velocity of the ball.

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75 views3 pages

Required-Practical-Write-Up-Determination of G by A Free-Fall Method

The document outlines a practical experiment to determine the acceleration due to gravity (g) using a free-fall method. It includes objectives, equipment, variables, risk assessments, methods, results, and conclusions, with a calculated value for g of 9.56 ± 0.31 ms^-2. Potential sources of error are also identified, including issues with timer visibility and initial velocity of the ball.

Uploaded by

ettt3538
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Required Practical Write-Up

Name:Tunse Emmanuel-AIna
Date:10/2/25
Required Practical 3 Determination of g by a free-fall method

Objective: To use displacement and time to measure acceleration due to gravity

Equipment List:
Piece of Equipment Why am I using this in this Experiment?

ball to study time taken to travel a certain distance

metre rule to measure vertical distance

whiteboard marker to mark distances

phone to record the event to judge the time taken to fall


more accurately

Variables:
Type of Variable Factor How will I ensure this is
maintained?

Independent height use a ruler to measure height and


mark on the wall

Dependent time use a microsecond timer

Control (You can have multiple ball used use the same ball
control variables)

Risk Assessment:

Hazard Risk Precaution

ball dropping from a height may fall on feet try to stand far from the ball
dropping

ball bouncing around may hit people try not to drop it with too much
force

Method
1. measure a height of around 1-2ms
2. Make markings at regular 0.1cm increments
3. Hold the ball at a chosen height
4. Drop the ball, start the timer and record at the same time

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5. Record the time taken to drop accurately by playing the video back in slow motion, observing the
timer
6. Repeat and take a mean value

Results

mean time mean time


distance/m time 1/s time 2/s taken/s squared/s^2
1.2 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.16
1.5 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.25
1.6 0.50 0.48 0.49 0.24
1.7 0.49 0.54 0.52 0.27
1.8 0.50 0.55 0.53 0.28

Graphs (If Appropriate)

Conclusion
Value for g = 9.56 +-0.31 ms^-2
Uncertainty of +- 0.1s in the time as we are unsure of the exact time at which the ball lands
Uncertainty of +- 0.05 in distance as we are unsure of where the end of the ball is

Potential Sources of Error:


The microsecond timer was not fully visible in the video, which reduced the resolution to which we could
actually read the microsecond timer.
We may have dropped the ball with a non-0 initial velocity

References:
AQA data sheet,2015, A-Level Physics data and formulae,
AQA,https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/physics/AQA-7408-SDB.PDF

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