Things That Fall

Name:____________ Lab Partner(s)____________

Pre-Lab Today we will be using our setups to determine the acceleration due to gravity at our height above sea level (photo gate connects to a computer.)
picket fence photo gate box table

Before we do that let's learn how the photogate works. 1. Turn the computer on and open the most recent version of logger pro (it will be the one with the highest version number, something like 3.4.something) 2. The computer should autodetect the appropriate equipment. If your not sure just ask and I'll check it out. 3. Assuming you got the software up and running press start (it's a green play button on the top) and describe what happens.

4. Put your hand in front of the photogate and wave it up and down. Describe what the detector does now.

5. If you haven't already guess when you "break" the photo gate it covers the "eye" of the gate and causes data to be collected. 6. Collect a new set of data. This time use the picket fence and at a steady pace lower it through the photogate. Draw a sketch of the position vs time, velocity vs time, and acceleration vs time graphs. x v a

7. Looking at the picket fence, what do you notice about the spacing between light blocking portions and clear portions? 8. As we've said earlier breaking the gate starts a timer. The software knows the distance of one gate to the next (remember they are evenly spaced). So as it alternates from light to dark and the gate gets broken/closed it's a simple matter to determine the distance as a function of time. 9. Using the information from 8, determine how the device gets the velocity vs time graphs and the acceleration vs time graphs. (Hint: Think of the mathematical definition of velocity and acceleration and think what information you would need to determine these things.)

10. Get the setup ready to collect data again and make the picket fence pass up and down through the photo gate. What does this tell us about are photogates ability to determine direction?

Lab 1. You will be dropping the picket fence so that it falls through the photo gate and lands in the cardboard box. Sketch what you think the x vs t, v vs t, and a vs t graphs should look like. x v a

2. When the setup is ready to collect data, get the picket fence and drop it so that it passes through photo gate. Draw what the graphs actually look like. x v a

3. Using the curve fitting software determine the constants in the first two equations (the button is somewhere on the top if you are not sure just leave the cursor until the tool tip display pops up and tells you what the pointer is pointing at). For the last expression ( a = ____ ) use the button called statistics to determine it's value. x = _____ t2 + _____ t + _____ v = _____ t + _____ a = ______

4. How should dropping the picket fence at different heights above the photogate affect your results? So what if anything changes, be specific and as always explain.

5. Suppose you pushed down on the picket fence instead of just letting it drop. How would this change your results? Explain.

6. Suppose you pulled up on the photogate with a constant steady force of twice it's weight. a) Draw a free body diagram for this situation. And solve for the accleration symbolically.

b) If while you were pulling up the picket fence passed through the photo gate. What would change (keep in mind that I can be tricky sometimes). Explain your reasoning.

c) Describe what we would have to do to get the acceleration to double triple.