Nission: uiavity

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Imagine that you aie an ensign on youi fiist mission on a staiship. You aie visiting a
little-known humanoiu iace. They aie mathematically sophisticateu, with a goou
unueistanuing of calculus. But they aie just beginning to uevelop expeiimental
scientific methouology as humans know it. Theii Piemiei has inviteu a team of
ensigns to the planet's suiface foi intellectual exchange with theii top young
scholais. They've heaiu that humans know that on the suiface of the Eaith, the foice
of giavity is ! ! !!, wheie ! is almost exactly constant inuepenuent of location oi
height (within 1uu m of sea level). They ask you: is this tiue on oui planet, which
has stiange anu unknown composition anu lots of laige caves thioughout.

A pievious expeuition hau no equipment except a stop watch, anu so uiu an
expeiiment to tiy anu test this by uiopping the iock fiom vaiious heights anu
measuiing the time it took to hit the giounu. They got the following uata, anu
compaieu that with a mouel with ! ! !!, wheie ! is a constant 9.8 ms
2
.



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u
S
1u
1S
2u
2S
u u.2 u.4 u.6 u.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
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Expeiimental Bata
Poly. (Theoietical
Pieuiction)
Baseu on this uata anu numeiical mouel, the leauei of the away team asks the gioup
of ensigns to answei the following questions:
1. What answei can we give the alien scholais about how well the foimula ! ! !!,
wheie ! is a constant, woiks on theii planet. Be as uetaileu anu quantitative (giving
numbeis) as possible in youi iesponse.
2. What ciiteiia uiu you use in aiiiving at that answei.
S. Bow suie aie you as to youi answei. Why.
4. What woulu be the single most impoitant thing you coulu uo to impiove the
expeiiment.

Entei youi answei in youi Staifleet log (couisewoik) anu biing youi answeis to
these questions to the fiist lab peiiou (piefeiably, enteieu into youi lab book).
Theie you will shaie youi answeis with the othei membeis of youi gioup anu
ciitique each othei to ueciue what paits aie goou anu what coulu be impioveu, anu
then you will piouuce a gioup iesponse to these questions, along with a summaiy of
the stiengths anu weaknesses of youi inuiviuual iesponses.


Now you aie to go out anu uo youi own expeiiment to impiove on these eailiei
ciuue iesults. You will have only one houi to spenu on the planet's suiface. Aiiiving
at theii laboiatoiy, you will finu the following equipment:
0bjects that can be uioppeu.
Long sticks that aie similai to metei sticks except that they aie longei anu
aie maikeu in stiange units calleu "inches".
Penuulums.
Photogates.
A iamp with veiy low fiiction.
A uevice foi measuiing uistance baseu on a sonic ieflection, anu a computei
to which it attaches.

Theie may be othei items in the civilization's lab: you can ask what you aie alloweu
to use anu whethei they can get othei items that you may wish to have.

You may also use any smait phones, tablets, cameias, oi laptops that you biing with
you: howevei you may not be able to connect to youi inteinet, so you can only count
on using whatevei apps anu piogiams you have pieloaueu.

What uata will 312 take uuiing youi houi of uata-taking. Aftei you take youi uata,
you will have a half-houi to analyze youi uata anu wiite youi iepoit befoie youi
ship must uepait foi now. Can you convince this civilization of the valiuity of
Newton's laws - anu by extension, the usefulness of the scientific methou - in youi
biief visit. 0i, can you at least convince them that you shoulu be inviteu back foi
fuithei exchange.