Atwood Machine Gizmos Lab Report

Maulik Vora
Atwood's machine is a common classroom demonstration used to illustrate principles of physics, specifically mechanics. Assumptions about pulleys are things like strings are considered to have negligible mass and are capable of exerting only pulling forces on objects to which they are attached (tension forces). Another assumption is that Strings transmit forces undiminished: the tension force in a string is the same throughout its length. Also, a frictionless pulley changes the direction of a string without diminishing its tension and finally strings are assumed not to stretch.

Teacher: Ms. Le Course: SPH4U1 Due Date: October 18th, 2012

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Purpose: Part A: The purpose of the experiment was to use Atwoods Machine Gizmo to acquire download acceleration for five times, starting with the masses of 1.0 kg and 2.0 kg and adding the masses 0.50 kg each side by each time, and make a prediction of the affect in the change in total mass will have on acceleration Part B: The purpose of the experiment was to use Atwoods Machine Gizmo to acquire download acceleration for four times, starting with the masses of 2.5 kg and 3.5 kg and increase the heavier mass by 0.5kg and decrease the lighter mass by 0.5kg each time, and make a prediction of the affect in the change in mass difference will have on acceleration.

Materials: Computer Internet http://www.explorelearning.com Gizmo String, Pulley, Masses Pencil/Pen Calculator

Hypothesis:Part A: Based on assumption for Part A would be, the acceleration will start to decrease as more mass was added on either side of the pulley, because the masses will have same difference but the total mass will increase, therefore as the total mass increases the acceleration decreases. Part B: Based on assumption for Part B would be, the acceleration will start to increase as one side was made heavier and other, because as mass was added to one and subtracted from other the mass that heavier will pull the lighter one with more velocity and less time.

Procedure:See attach instructional sheet given by teacher (Ms. Le) page # 9

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Results:Part A

(Mass)A (in kg)

1.0
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

(Mass)A (in kg)

2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

Total Mass (kg)

3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0

d (m)
1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

V (m/s)
-2.56 -2.21 -1.98 -1.81 -1.67

t a (m/s2) (seconds)
0.78 0.90 1.01 1.11 1.19 -3.282051 -2.455556 -1.960396 -1.630631 -1.403361

Acceleration vs. Total Mass

0.0 0.0 -0.5 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0

Acceleration (m/s2)

-1.0 -1.5 -2.0 -2.5 -3.0 -3.5

Total Mass (kg)

Part B

(Mass)A (in kg)

2.5
2.0 1.5 1.0

(Mass)A (in kg)

3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

Total Mass Difference (kg)

1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

d (m)
1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

V (m/s)
-1.81 -2.56 -3.13 -3.62

t a (m/s2) (seconds)
1.11 0.78 0.64 0.55 -1.630631 -3.282051 -4.890625 -6.581818

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Acceleration vs. Diffence of Mass

0.0 0.0 -1.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5

Acceleration (m/s2)

-2.0 y = -1.6462x + 0.0193 -3.0 -4.0 -5.0 -6.0 -7.0

Difference of Total Mass (kg)

Sample Calculation:Discussion:Step 1: Calculate Acceleration a = V (m/s) / t (s) = (- 2.56) / (0.78) a = -3.282501m/s2
0.0 -1.0 -2.0 -3.0 -4.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0

1. Based on your graph from constant mass difference, what type of relationship exists between total mass and acceleration in an Atwood machine? Based on the graph that was created determines, the relationship exists between constant mass difference and acceleration in an Atwood machine would be inversely proportional.

2. Based on your graph from constant total mass, what type of relationship exists between mass difference and acceleration in an Atwood machine? Based on the graph that was created determines, the relationship exists between constant total mass and

0.0 -2.0 -4.0 -6.0 -8.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

Page |5 acceleration in an Atwood machine would be directly proportional. 3. How well do your results support your prediction? Based on prediction that was made had little amount of imperfection, meaning it was close to accurate. Based in the first prediction it was anticipated that the acceleration will start to decrease as more mass are added on either side of the pulley, therefore as the total mass increases the acceleration decreases, and was well accurate to results. Based on second prediction it was thought that the acceleration will start to increase as the mass differences would increase and just as it was assumed, certainly it did increased. Finally it was acknowledged that the predictions were entirely correct in all aspects. 4. Start with Newtons Second Law in form of F = ma and derive the equation for a.

FBD for m1 and m2.

Assuming the pulley is frictionless that up and right are positive directions, using Newtons second law we can write

(Equation 1) (Equation 2) Notice that only affect on pulley has on this system is to redirect OR from block to the rest.

Page |6 Therefore, the formula that was generated by for acceleration using Newtons second law F = ma would be 5. Mathematical analysis shows that the acceleration of an ideal (frictionless) Atwood machine is given by Use this relationship, to find the result for g.

Therefore, as it was said that the acceleration for ideal frictionless Atwood machine is given by , by using this relationship the result of g would be for an Atwood machine, find the acceleration when m1 = 2m2.

6. Using the formula

Therefore, the magnitude of the acceleration when m1 = 2m2 is

7. Under what circumstances would the acceleration of the Atwood machine be zero? If the both sides have the same mass the acceleration of the Atwood machine would be zero. In other words if both sides have same mass, then theyre pulling with the same force. If theyre pulling with the same force, then net force is 0, and no acceleration. So basically both masses were initially at rest, and then it will remain in rest.

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8. What combination of masses would make the acceleration of an Atwood machine equal to

g?

Therefore

combination of masses would make acceleration

g.

Error Analysis:9. Assuming that you did this experiment using an actual Atwood machine, what are some of the factors that would affect your data? There are four factors that would affect data, assuming that this experiment using actual Atwood machines are as follows:Mass of Pulley: Mass of the pulley is only taken into an account when the pulley is initially frictional. It basically affects every fragment of the system, which includes tension force, gravity to velocity, and acceleration to time. The reason behind the factor would be when mass of the pulley is increased the force needed to start the system for larger mass to be accelerating downwards would be to a greater extent, because would want to remain at rest, but downward accelerating of mass would want pulley to be spinning. The friction that causes is Static. So basic knowledge from the forces is Static friction is directly proportional to Normal force and Normal force is directly proportional to mass. Finally it was conclude that increase in mass of pulley will affect the whole system by increasing in Static friction.

Page |8 Air Resistance: Air Resistance would play a key role in the experiment because the air exerting opposite to masses cause changes in measurements of acceleration of the system which may provide inaccurate results. It also affects Force of tension and velocity. Assuming that the values were recorded as this experiment the value of m2 is greater than m1. So there are more chances to be increase in downward force of m1 and more chances to increase in upward force of m2 die to air resistance.

Human Error: Errors included the fact that the measurements were taken using human reaction split time and from hand used materials, such as meter sticks and stopwatches. Also error could be the balance of the pulley, which meant there could have been unwanted weight on either side which meant getting the wrong measurements. Friction of the pulley: Friction of the pulley has the large amount of the factor because as its known that, friction can affect whole system including tension force and Gravity to Velocity, Acceleration and Time. Basically friction causes by string rubbing on a pulley, the string will have tough time move forward, unless frictionless pulley or string is used for the experiment.

Conclusion:In conclusion, predictions were proven correct in all ways. In starting for (Part A) it was assumed that the acceleration will start to decrease as mass was added on either side of the pulley, because the masses will have same difference but the total mass will increase, therefore as the total mass increases the acceleration decreases. And for (Part B) it was assumed that the acceleration will start to increase a it was made one side heavier and other lighter, because as mass was added to one and decrease from other the mass that heavier will pull the lighter one with more velocity and less time. Just as prediction it was true and the acceleration did certainly increased along the lab. New things that was learned from this experiment was, the relationship exists between constant mass difference and acceleration in an Atwood machine would be inversely proportional and the relationship exists between constant total mass and acceleration in an Atwood machine would be directly proportional. Furthermore, things that were learned about four factors that would affect the experiment as whole are Mass of the pulley, Air resistance, human error and friction. Finally the lab has helped increasing in the basic knowledge to farther deep for Newtons Second Law and Atwood machine.