Newton's Second Law - Lab Report Example

Key Words: Acceleration, Experiment, Gravitational Pull, Mass, Lab Report: Newtons Second Law Objective The study’s objective was to determine acceleration due to gravity experimentally (Wilson & Hernandez 87). Apparatusi. Meter stick or ruleii. C- Clampiii. Stand iv. Pulley v. String vi. Cart vii. Electronic scale viii. Stop watch ix. MassesProcedure1. The initial step was to attach flag and hook on the cart before measuring the entire system’s weight using an electronic scale. The length of the flag was also measured and recorded as Mass of cart/hook/flag (M cart/hook/flag) = 197 Mass of hanger (M hanger) = 5 grams Length of the flag (L) = 1M2.

The air was turned up to its maximum level followed by adjusting of cart such that when it was in the middle, it would not move or fidget. 3. Then pulley was attached onto the track before connecting a mass holder to reduce friction though in this experiment, it is negligible.4. Photogate was set up leaving a distance of 40cm so that the hanging masses after exerting their tensions could not touch the ground.5. The addition of masses commenced with an excess of 225g mass, where 5 g mass was placed onto the hanger and 110g on each side of the cart. 6. To start the experiment, the cart was placed at the center of the track leaving a distance of 40 cm from the photogate. 7. Then different masses and their durations were tabulated in a table.

These readings were used to calculate their respective velocities and eventually accelerations though the latter computations entailed application of kinematic equation (Wilson & Hernandez 87). 8. For different masses, the entire process was repeated from step 5. DataM hanger (M1)t(s)V1(M/S)V2 (M/S)a (M/S2)0.01 Kg0.278500.3590.1610.02 Kg0.181000.5520.3800.03 Kg0.144300.6930.6000.05 Kg0.110300.9061.020.07 Kg0.095801.041.35Data AnalysisFigure 1: Acceleration vs. Mass, M1 graph M total = M cart/hook/flag + M extra + M hanger = M = 197 + 225 + 5 = 0.

927 KgAcceleration, g exp according to the lab data = (a*M total)/M1Therefore, a = (g exp (M1)/0.425)0.21 = g exp (0.01)/0.425g exp = 8.9 M/S% error = (A-E)/ A = (9.8-9)/9 = 0.0888 * 100 = 8.89% Answer to questions1. a exp. F1f T F2 T aF = ma Newton’s second lawT - f = M2 a (Horizontally) -------- for M2M1g -T = M1a (Vertically) ------ for M1Adding the equations M1g – f = a (M1 + M2)g = a (M1 + M2) M1 + f/M12. a = g/ MT is similar to y =MTx + b whereas b = 0.

Since, the line’s intercept is at zero (origin).3. Slope = (1.02-0.161)/ (0.05-0.02) = 0.859/0.034. Sources of errorCalculationalConversion Mistake Instrumental errorExperimental error The value after calculation will be smaller than the expected result. Since, the acceleration is also correspondingly small in value compared to the true 9.8M/S2 gravitational pull (Wilson & Hernandez 87).Conclusion The acceleration value attained in this experiment is smaller than the true or ordinary gravitational pull (9.8M/S2). This is because of friction and other experimental factors, for instance, conversion and instrumental errors.

Work CitedWilson, Jerry D. & Hernandez, Cecilia, A. Hall. Physics Laboratory Experiments. Boston, MA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.