Kristina Borges September 8, 2010 Acceleration Due to Gravity with Air Tracks and Photogates

Materials and Methods An air track, and its accessories, two photogates, and two 50g weights are used in this experiment. The air track is placed in a vertical slope. Place the photogates about 100cm apart along the air track. Set the photogate on Gate mode with memory on, and push reset. Hold the slider at 3cm above the upper photogate, and release it without pushing it down the slope. Record the times and repeat this three more times while putting the slider higher above the upper photogate each time. Repeat the experiment, this time put the 50g weight on each post of the slider, and start at 3cm above the upper photogate. Repeat this three more times while putting the slider higher above the upper photogate each time. Record the length of the slider. Calculate the velocity for each time the slider went through each gate. Then, calculate to find the acceleration.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Introduction This experiment allows the experimenter to evaluate the initial and final velocity along with its acceleration. Air tracks produce a near frictionless surface that allows the experimenters to experiment the mechanics of the physical world. The photogates are the measuring device used with the air tracks, which allow an accurate measurement of time that helps to find other variables. It is hypothesized that the acceleration due to gravity for each trip should equal 9.81m/s2.

Figure 1: air track and slider with 50g weights

Figure 2: photogate

Results
Table #1 At 3cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.1108 0.0278 1.1732 4.6762 10.2452 1 0.1049 0.0276 1.2392 4.7101 10.3247 2 Table#2 At 4cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.1325 0.0957 0.9811 1.3584 0.4413 1 0.1269 0.0279 1.0244 4.6594 10.3303 2 Table #3 At 5cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.2594 0.1205 0.5011 1.0788 0.4564 1 0.0948 0.0276 1.3713 4.7101 10.1523 2 Results with one 50g weight on each post of the slider Table #4 At 3cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.1036 0.0278 1.2548 4.6763 10.1464 1 0.1311 0.1091 0.9916 1.1916 0.2183 2 Table #5 At 4cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.0954 0.0276 1.3627 4.7101 10.1643 1 0.0934 0.0273 1.3919 4.7619 10.3692 2 Table #6 At 5cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.0898 0.0276 1.4477 4.7101 10.0449 1 0.0898 0.0274 1.4477 4.7445 10.2074 2 Table #7 At 6cm Photogate 1 (s) Photogate 2 (s) Velocity 1 (m/s) Velocity 2 (m/s) Acceleration (m/s2) 0.0855 0.0276 1.5205 4.7101 9.9368 1 0.0874 0.0276 1.4874 4.7101 9.9865 2

Table 1: data from holding the slider 3cm above the first photogate Table 2: data from holding the slider 4cm above the first photogate Table 3: data from holding the slider 5cm above the first photogate Table 4: data from holding the slider 3cm above the first photogate with a 50g weight Table 5: data from holding the slider 4cm above the first photogate with a 50g weight Table 6: data from holding the slider 5cm above the first photogate with a 50g weight Table 7: data from holding the slider 6cm above the first photogate with a 50g weight

Discussion It can be said that the slider keeps the same acceleration no matter how close or how far the slider starts from the first photogate. The acceleration stayed relatively in the same range each time the slider went through the photogates, but there a couple of times were the data was not consistent because of maybe the way the slider was released. The data was regular, but a more consistent way of releasing the slider and holding the photogates would improve the validity of this experiment.

Abstract This experiment used air tracks and photogates at a vertical slope to study the acceleration of an object. The acceleration of an object moving in a vertical slope is shown to be almost the same no matter how far the photogates are from each other, how far the slider starts away from the first gate, or even if two 50g weights are added to the slider. Even though velocity of the object may increase as it moves down a slope, acceleration stays consistent considering the circumstances of how and where the experiment is done because sounds and friends can affect the results of the experiment.