Mathematics and Physical Science Department

EXPERIMENT NUMBER 6
Uniform Circular Motion

Name:
Vivas, Francis Gary J.

PHYSICS LABORATORY 1 Date Performed: Feb 7, 2018

F1003 Date Submitted: Feb 14, 2018
1:00pm-3:50pm Submitted to: Mrs. Ana Lopez

Score:
I. Introduction
An object that I falling under the influence of gravity alone is called a free falling body.
Two major natural philosophers, Galileo and Aristotle, disagree about the nature of a free
falling body. Team Aristotle argues that the property of a falling body affects its motion. They
argue that a heavier object falls faster to the ground as compared to a lighter object. They
reason that this phenomenon is directly observable in nature. Team Galileo, on the other hand,
vehemently denies this observation. Galileo explains that free-falling bodies, regardless of their
masses and shapes, move at the same rate towards the ground. These contradicting ideas
confused a lot of people for a very long time. Now it is the goal of your group to shed light on
this matter

II. Objectives
At the end of the activity, you should be able to
a. Measure the speed and frequency of a rotating body
b. Determine the relationship between the counter-weight, mass of the object and the
frequency of rotation

III. Materials
3 Rubber stopper 1 hollow cylinder with smooth end
1 Paper clip 1 1.0m long string
1 Meter stick 1 Stop Watch
3 Weights (one 20g and two 50g) 1 triple beam balance

IV. Procedures
A. Variable mass, constance radius (r= 0.5m)
1. Using triple beam balance, obtain the mass of the rubber stopper. Record in Table 1.
2. Get a 1.0m long string. Tie one end of the string securely to the rubber stopper. Pass the
end through the tube and fasten a 50g counter-weight to it.
3. Place the rubber stopper 50.0 cm from the end of the glass tube. Place the paper clip
one centimer(1cm) below the lower end of the tube as a reference.
4. Whirl the stopper is a horizontal circle above your head, maintaining the 0.50m distance
from the top of the glass tube to the end of the stopper. It is necessary to whirl the
rubber stopper at just the right speed to maintain this distance.
5. Measure the time it takes the rubber stopper to have 10 rotations. Record it in Table 1.
6. Add 20g mass to the lower end of the string. Record the mass of the two weights.
 7. Once again, note the time needed to rotate the rubber stopper 10 times.
8. Repeat procedures 6 and 7, adding the other weight to the lower end of the string.
9. Determine the weight of the counter weight. This is the measure of the theoretical
centripetal force. (Your units should be in SI).
10. Calculate the frequency of the rotating rubber stopper. Use the equation below,
Number of rotations
𝑓=
time
11. Calculate the experimental value of the centripetal force using the formula shown
below. Your units should be in SI.

𝐹𝑐 = 4𝑚𝜋 2 𝑟𝑓 2
m = mass of the rubber stopper
r = radius
f = frequency

12. Sketch the graphical relationship between the square of the frequency (𝑓 2 ) and the
centripetal force

2𝐻 𝛿𝐻 2𝛿𝑡 2
δa= √( )2 + ( )
𝑡2 𝐻 𝑡
where
a = acceleration
H = height of release
t = average time
δH = uncertainty in height
δt = uncertainty in time
9. Repeat this same procedure for the big marble and the metallic ball

V. Data and Results

Table 5.0 Initial Data
 Object Mass Diameter Volume
Small Marble 1.9g 1.0cm 0.52𝑐𝑚3
Big Marble 5.3g 1.5cm 1.77𝑐𝑚3
Metallic Ball 27.7g 3.2cm 17.16𝑐𝑚3

Table 5.1 Time of fall

Time (s)
Trial Small Marble Big Marble Metallic Ball
1 0.29 0.21 0.19
2 0.31 0.21 0.14
3 0.31 0.22 0.1
4 0.28 0.21 0.9
5 0.39 0.23 0.13
6 0.39 0.30 0.14
7 0.32 0.28 0.13
8 0.29 0.24 0.14
9 0.32 0.19 0.17
10 0.38 0.17 0.13
Mean 0.33 0.23 0.22
Uncertainty 222.61 657.52 751.32

Table 5.2 Summary of Result

Object Average time of fall Acceleration Acceleration

Uncertainty
Small Marble 0.32 734.62 222.61
Big Marble 0.23 1512.29 657.52
Metallic Ball 0.22 1652.89 751.32

VI. Questions for analysis and discussion

1. Which object has the fastest time of fall? Explain your choice.
Based on our data the fastest time of fall is metallic ball because it has greater mass
among the three and have the lower air resistance.
2. Which object has the largest acceleration? Explain your choice.
Metallic ball because the gravitational force is proportional to the mass of the object.
More massive objects have a greater gravitational force. Then the higher the mass of the object
gives the largest acceleration when it’s falling.
3. Do the difference in the time of fall and acceleration among the three objects significantly
different with each other? Explain your answer.

Yes, because the three have different masses and it affects the time of all and
acceleration. Also air resistance affects the result of the data.

4. Based on the result of your group’s exercise, which explanation (Galileo or Aristotle) of free
falling bodies do you agree with? Explain your answer.

Aristotle because on our data the heavier object fall faster than the lighter object and
because our laboratory has air it affects the lighter object to fall because the presence of air
resistance that makes it slower to fall compare to heavy object.

5. What are the possible sources of error in this exercise? Explain your answer.

Human error has the biggest impact in this experiment because we can’t perfectly time
the fall of the object and because of that we have a random data that differ from our previous
result. Also the instruments we used especially the smartphone because we only stop the timer
if we hear the sound of impact so that we don’t know exactly the time of fall.

VII. Conclusion

Therefore, I conclude that free fall occurs whenever an object is acted upon
by gravity alone. Based from our results of our experiment, we conclude that all
falling bodies have the same motion regardless of mass when air friction and air
resistance are negligible. The weight, size, and shape of an object are not factors
in describing a free fall. When an object falls under the influence of gravity, its
velocity increases at a regular pace and the average of this pace is known as
gravity. We also prove that Aristotle’s theory which the mass and volume of a
given body falls faster compared to lighter objects. However, Galileo’s theory is
that objects regardless of their mass and shapes moves in a constant acceleration
towards the ground provided that you will have the air resistance that affects the
object.