Graph 1 shows the relationship between the measured position of the car with respect to time when the

cart was pushed toward the end of the rail and allowed to bounce back. Graph 1-a:

Position vs. Time

1.8 1.6 1.4 Position (m) 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.32256 0.64512 0.96768 1.29024 1.6128 2.79552 3.11808 3.44064 3.7632 4.08576 4.40832 4.73088 5.05344 5.376 5.69856 6.02112 6.34368 6.66624 7.09632 7.41888 7.74144 Position vs. Time

Time (s)

Graphs 2-a through 2-e show the relationship between the velocity and time (as measured by the CBR) for the cart that was pulled toward the end of the rail by various masses. Graph 2-a:

Velocity vs. Time (Trial 1)

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 Velocity (m/s) 0.4 0.2 0 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 Time (s) 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Velocity vs. Time

Graph 2-b:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 2)

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 Velocity (m/s) 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 Time (s) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Velocity vs Time

Graph 2-c:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 3)

1.4 1.2 1 0.8 Velocity (m/s) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 Time (s) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Velocity vs Time

Graph 2-d:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 4)

1.4 1.2 1 0.8 Velocity (m/s) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 Time (s) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Velocity vs Time

Graph 2-e:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 5)

1.6 1.4 1.2 1 Velocity (m/s) 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 Time (s) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Velocity vs Time

Discussion and Analysis: Part 1: The Position vs. Time Graph (Graph 1-a) gives the association between the cart's position with respect to the CBR and time. Looking at the slope of the line of best fit can allow us to determine the velocity of the cart as it moves away from the CBR, bouncing off the end of the rail, and returning toward the CBR. Comparison of the velocity of the cart as it moves away from the CBR and the velocity as it moves towards the CBR can help us determine if Newton's first law of motion is true, assuming negligible friction as permitted by the lab manual procedure. To compare these velocities and their associated errors, we will use the max/min method of graphical analysis. First, the velocity of the cart as it moves away from the CBR can be determined by the slope of the line of best fit as seen in Graph 1-b: Graph 1-b:

Position vs. Time (Away from CBR)

1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 Position (m) 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.5 1 Time (s) 1.5 2 y = 0.5647x + 0.7103 Position vs. Time (Away from CBR) Linear (Position vs. Time (Away from CBR))

This graph shows the position vs. time of the cart as it moves along the rail with some noise removed from the data to allow for a more accurate representation of the data. The error bars for the displacement values are also included, but are somewhat difficult to see as they are so small. As we can see, the slope of the line as the cart moves away from the CBR is 0.5647m/s which is the velocity of the cart as it moves away from the CBR.

The associated error in the velocity will be one half of the slope of the line through the maximum error in the data points, minus the slope of the line through the minimum error in the data points. Graph 1-c shows the lines of best fit through the maximum error and the minimum error in the data points: Graph 1-c:

Position vs. Time (Away from CBR) (with Max/Min lines)

1.8 1.6 1.4 Position (m) 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.5 0 0.5 Time (s) 1 y = 0.5647x + 0.7103 y = 0.5753x + 0.7103 y = 0.5596x + 0.7103 1.5 2 Linear (Min) Linear (Position vs. Time (Away from CBR)) Linear (Max Error) Position vs. Time (Away from CBR) Max Error Min

As we can see, the slope of the maximum error is 0.5753 m/s and the slope of the minimum error is 0.5596 m/s. Using the max/min method of graphical analysis, we can see that the uncertainty in the velocity is given by: Equation 1:

Solution 1-a:

Therefore, the velocity of the cart as it moves away from the CBR is given by:

Now we will look at the velocity of the cart as it moved towards the CBR after bouncing off the rail. The following graph shows the position vs. time of the cart as it moves along the rail with some noise removed from the data to allow for a more accurate representation of the data. The error bars for the displacement values are also included, but are somewhat difficult to see as they are so small. The velocity can be determined by the slope of the line of best fit as seen in Graph 1-d: Graph 1-d:

Position vs. Time (Toward CBR)

1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 Position (m) 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 1 2 3 Time (s) 4 5 6 7 y = -0.3127x + 2.4542 Linear (Position vs. Time (Toward CBR)) Position vs. Time (Toward CBR)

As we can see, the slope of the line as the cart moves away from the CBR is -0.3127m/s which is the velocity of the cart as it moves towards the CBR. The negative sign indicates the cart is moving towards the CBR. Using the max/min method from lab appendix B gets us the following Graph1-e:

Graph 1-e:

1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 Position (m) 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0

Position vs. Time (Toward CBR) (with Max/Min lines)in m/s

Position vs. Time Max y = -0.305x + 2.4498 y = -0.3127x + 2.4542 y = -0.3025x + 2.4498 Min Linear (Position vs. Time) Linear (Max) Linear (Min)

4 Time (s)

As we can see, the slope of the maximum error is -0.305 m/s and the slope of the minimum error is -0.3025 m/s. Using the max/min method of graphical analysis, we can see that the uncertainty in the velocity is given by: Solution 1-b:

Therefore, the velocity of the cart as it moves towards the CBR is given by:

Now that we have the velocity of the cart as it moves away from and back towards the CBR, we can compare them to see if an object will stop without a force pushing it.

As we can see, the cart is slowing down after it has bounced off the end of the rail. After the cart bounced off the end of the rail it "lost" . Clearly, the cart is stopping. This must mean there is a force acting upon it. Possible source of force could be the end of the rail on the cart, which allowed the cart to move back towards the CBR to begin with, and friction, which is negligible for this lab. Part 2: In the second part of the lab we experimented with the cart by accelerating it with different hanging masses to determine if Newton's second law of motion was correct. Newton's 2nd law is: Equation 2:

Where m is the total mass being accelerated. Because the force applied to the cart will equal the weight of the hanging mass, we can substitute into Equation 2 to get:

Which we can use to solve for the acceleration of the cart: Equation 3:

Using Equation 3, we can calculate the acceleration of the cart as we vary mw. The mass of our cart was 0.6515 kg. We used the following masses to determine an experimental acceleration for the cart as seen in Table 1: Table 1: Mass Used (kg) 0.1016 0.1266 0.1516 0.1766 0.2016 1.333 1.606 1.863 2.105 2.332 Experimental Acceleration (m/s2)

As we can see from Table 1, the more mass there is hanging, the greater the acceleration of the cart will be. The following are graphs of the velocity vs. time of the cart for each of the trials. The measured acceleration will be the slope of the line of best fit through the data points.

The following graphs (2-a through 2-e) show the velocity vs. time graphs of the cart as the mass is increased. Also included in these graphs are the lines of best fit whose slope shows the acceleration of the cart. Graph 2-a:

Velocity vs. Time (Trial 1)

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 y = 1.339x + 0.3243 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 Time (s) 0.4 0.5 0.6

Velocity (m/s)

Series1 Linear (Series1)

Graph 2-b:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 2)

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 Axis Title 0.3 0.4 y = 1.5197x + 0.5357

Velocity (m/s)

Velocity vs Time Linear (Velocity vs Time)

Graph 2-c:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 3)

1.4 1.2 1 Velocity (m/s) 0.8 0.6 y = 1.8469x + 0.3916 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 Time (s) 0.3 0.4 0.5 Velocity vs Time Linear (Velocity vs Time)

Graph 2-d:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 4)

1.4 1.2 1 Velocity (m/s) 0.8 0.6 y = 1.9591x - 0.0697 0.4 0.2 0 0 -0.2 0.2 0.4 Time (s) 0.6 0.8 Velocity vs Time Linear (Velocity vs Time)

Graph 2-e:

Velocity vs Time (Trial 5)

1.6 1.4 1.2 Velocity (m/s) 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 Time (s) 0.4 0.5 0.6 y = 2.2093x + 0.1401 Velocity vs Time Linear (Velocity vs Time)

From these graphs, we can see the following accelerations: Table 2: Mass Used (kg) 0.1016 0.1266 0.1516 0.1766 0.2016 1.339 1.5197 1.8469 1.9591 2.2093 Measured Acceleration (m/s2)

We can see that the measured accelerations are slightly less than the calculated accelerations. This is probably best accounted for by friction between the cart's wheels and the track, and the air resistance of the cart and the mass hanging off the end of the table. However, because it is not required for this lab, we will not calculate the air resistance or friction. Error Analysis: Part 1: For part 1, possible errors include the error in the distance measurement from the CBR, the error in the time of the CBR, and possibly the error in the levelness of the track. We can eliminate the last error because we first leveled the track using a level and then placed the cart on the track to see if it would roll. When the cart did not roll on the track when placed there, we were satisfied that the track was level. The first error, the distance error, is going to be 1% of each distance measurement from the CBR (as noted in Lab Appendix B). The other error is the error in the time which is the time the CBR was taking measurements divided by the number of pulses sent by the CBR. Equation 4:

The time the CBR ran was 7.74144s. The CBR sent out 64 pulses so: Solution 4: . The error bounds were included in Graphs 1-c and 1-e (see above). The graph shows that for each time measurement, the CBR could have "released" the pulse 0.1209 seconds early or late. This error was accounted for in the graph using the max/min method.

Part 2: For part 2, possible errors are the error in mass, the error in our measured gravity from Lab 1, and the error of the contribution of the string to the mass as it moves over the edge of the pulley. We took this into account by simply adding the string's mass to that of the mass used to accelerate the cart. The other error could be the added horizontal component of gravity along the track; however, this error was eliminated by the experiment described in the Part 1 error analysis.

The error in gravity will be the same as from Lab 1.

Now we take the partial derivative of Equation 3 with respect to each mass and gravity:

Now the errors can be combined using the equation from Appendix D: Equation 4:

Solution 4a: (as Table 3) Table 3: Mass Used (kg) 0.1016 0.1266 0.1516 0.1766 0.2016 1.333 1.606 1.863 2.105 2.332 Expected Acceleration (m/s2) 0.0405 0.0473 0.0531 0.0582 0.0626

The expected accelerations of the masses are the calculated accelerations plus/minus the error from Equation 4.