Physics IA

Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to determine an experimental value for the acceleration due to gravity, g,
and to examine the uncertainties and errors associated with the value found.



Variables:
Independent: height from which the ball is dropped, s
Dependent: the time it takes for the ball to drop, t Constant:
initial velocity of ball, u
acceleration due to gravity, g

Background
We have seen that the distance, s, and time, t, of an object undergoing constant acceleration are related by
the
following suvat equation:




Since the ball will be starting at rest, the initial velocity, u, is zero. The previous equation then simplifies to:




Where the acceleration of the ball towards the ground, a=g









Physics IA
Data

The data below shows 3 repeated measurements for 5 different lengths



Length (m)
0.005 m
Time 1 ms
-1

1 ms
-1

Time 2 ms
-1

1 ms
-1
Time 3 ms
-1

1 ms
-1

0.700 372 374 372
0.600 345 344 345
0.500 313 317 313
0.400 279 279 279
0.300 240 240 240
0.200 193 193 193




















Physics IA
Data processing
The calculated uncertainty for Distance is 0.005m found by taking the least measurement divided by two,
however the actual uncertainty, the estimated uncertainty is bigger, due to human errors. When measuring
the distance we were not fully stable so we moved a little bit up and down and we looked from different
angels, therefore the estimated uncertainty for distance will be 1 cm

Length (m)
0.01 m
Time 1 (s)
0.001 s


Time 2 (s)
0.001 s
Time (3)
0.001 s
0.700 0.372 0.374 0.372
0.600 0.345 0.344 0.345
0.500 0.313 0.317 0.313
0.400 0.279 0.279 0.279
0.300 0.240 0.240 0.240
0.200 0.193 0.193 0.193

In the table below I have added 2 more columns, with average time and aver time uncertainty. The average
time uncertainty was calculated by: (max time min time)/2
Length (m)
0.01 m
Time 1 (s)
0.001 s


Time 2 (s)
0.001 s
Time (3)
0.001 s
Aver. Time
(s)
Aver time unc.
(s)
0.700 0.372 0.374 0.372 0.373 0.001
0.600 0.345 0.344 0.345 0.345 0.0005
0.500 0.313 0.317 0.313 0.314 0.002
0.400 0.279 0.279 0.279 0.279 0
0.300 0.240 0.240 0.240 0.240 0
0.200 0.193 0.193 0.193 0.193 0
Physics IA



Since we leave the ball at rest our equation simplifies to , therefore a graph of s against t
2
will give
me a straight line with as the slope.


In the table below, I will square the time and calculate the uncertainties for time T
2
by:


Absolute uncertainty :


Length (m)
0.01 m
Aver. Time
(s)
Aver time unc.
(s)
Time
2

(s
2
)
Unc. Time
2



0.700 0.373 0.001 0.139 0.001
0.600 0.345 0.0005 0.119 0.000
0.500 0.314 0.002 0.099 0.001
0.400 0.279 0 0.078 0.000
0.300 0.240 0 0.058 0.000
0.200 0.193 0 0.037 0.000



In the graph below, I have chosen the distance (s) to be on the y- axsis and the time t
2
to be on the x-axis so
that I get the correct units for a (ms
-2
) , the gradient of the graph will be .

Physics IA


The max gradient of the graph= 5.199 m*s
-2


The min gradient of the graph= 4.711 m*s
-2


Uncertainty:

m*s
-2

The gradient is therefore
5.00.2 m*s
-2

Looking at my graph the value for the gradient is 4.899 m*s
-2
so the acceleration due to gravity is
4.899 x 2 = 9.798 m*s
-2


from the max gradient a is 5.154 x 2=10.31 m*s
-2
from
the min gradient a is 4.668 x 2 = 9.34 m*s
-2

Hence the uncertainty in a is

=0.5 m*s
-2

Therefore the final value for a is 9.80.5 m*s
-2

Physics IA
The accepted Value by The National Institute of standards and technology
1
is 9.80695 ms
-2
.

This is within
the limits of the uncertainty obtained for the value of a in the experiment.








1
http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-
bin/cuu/Value?gn