ANALYSIS

Kinematics is the branch of classical mechanics which describes the motion

of points, bodies (objects) and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without
consideration of the causes of motion. It can be described in terms of space and
time. Motion is the action of changing position. The aspects of motion are time,
position, displacement, velocity and acceleration. Kinematics is a quantitative
study of an object in motion, without the need of considering its reference or what
has caused the motion, such as its force or mass. In connection to real life,
concepts of kinematics are being applied on, but not limited to the following:
automobiles, aircrafts, and electronic gadgetsmachine design, by itself.
In this experiment, it aims to describe motion by determining velocity and
acceleration

as

well

as

determining

acceleration

considering

gravity

experimentally. The concepts of motion that are interrelated to each other. For
instance, height matters when we are to find out its acceleration. As the height
increases, the acceleration also increases. It is because of the pull made by the
gravity to make the movement even quicker as its starting point is high enough to
make an object move on its own upon going down to a flat surface.
For Part A, secure the dynamics track and place the dynamics cart on top of
it. Attach the picket fence on to the cart. Next step is to place two photogates at
the 25cm and 65cm respectively. Adjust its height when necessary to refrain from
obstructing the passage of the cart with the attached picket fence. Secure the
proper connectors to be used to the two photogates and have it plugged into the
smart timer. Set the timer to Time: Two Gates. Press the third button of the smart
timer when the setup is ready. Note that the cart has to start from 0cm of the

Table. 1 Determination of the Average Velocity

Position of Photogate 1, Xo = 25cm
Trial

Position
Photogate 2

of

Carts Displacement

Time

Average Speed

65cm

40cm

0.5081s

78.7247cm/s

75cm

50cm

0.6331s

78.9765cm/s

85cm

60cm

0.7888s

76.0649cm/s

95cm

70cm

0.9424s

74.2784cm/s

105cm

80cm

1.1118s

71.5564cm/s

dynamics track. Do record the results appeared on the smart timer. There are five
trials to be done and each trial needs to have the second photogate, which
originally measured at 65cm, adjusted to an additional 10cm in every succeeding
trial.
Position vs Time
1.2
1
0.8

Time(s) 0.6
0.4
0.2
0
60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

Position of the gate(cms)

With these results we could say that travel time ( t ) is directly

proportional to the distance traveled ( X ) while the average velocity ( v

) is inversely proportional to time because the faster it goes, the less time it
needs to get to the end point.

There are factors in which contributes to a possible error in the activity.

Although these are minor factors, these could affect on the output while doing in
the experiment. Of course, the most apparent factor is the lack of comprehension in
following the instructions on the handbook. Sometimes, we neglect the next few
Table 2: Determination of the Acceleration Due to Gravity Using Carts
Acceleration
Trial

Height of
Track

Accelera
tion
(cm/s2)

Sin =
H/L

g=
a/sin
(cm/s2)

Time

1
2
3
4
5

5cm
7cm
9cm
11cm
13cm

40.2
56.5
76.6
94.3
110.7

0.0417
0.0583
0.0750
0.0917
0.1083

964.8
968.57
1021.33
1028.73
1021.85

2.23s
1.88s
1.62s
1.46s
1.34s

steps the moment we have already figured out what to do. Also, another point of
inaccuracy of results is the lack of precision. Perhaps, we may often neglect to
check, double-check, or triple-check if the photogates are aligned to the right
measurement. The presence of friction on the air track could possibly cause an
inaccuracy, since friction would always be present there and affects the movement
of the cart.
For Part B, same setup is to be used but with a couple of modifications. First
modification is the angled track. To obtain that, the dynamics track has to be
attached to the stand to which it measures 5cm as its initial height. In the same way,
the height of the photogates has to be adjusted prior to change of position of the
track to obtain precision of the motion. Photogate 1 is positioned at 80cm mark.

The setting to be used on the timer is Accel: One Gate. Again, five trials are to be
done. Each succeeding trial must have an additional height of 2cm.
From the data obtained, it can be concluded that the acceleration of an object
is directly proportional to the height of the track. When the height of the track is
getting higher, or making the inclination of the track steeper, the object accelerates
faster.

Table 3: Determination of Acceleration Due to Gravity Using

Picket Fence and Smart Timer
Acceleration (a), Timers
Trial
Reading
1
968.8
2
968.9
3
1026.2
4
970.3
5
963.1
Average:
979.46
Percent Error:
0.05%

The

acceleration of the object is slower when the height of the track is also lower. From
the same set of data acquired, it can be established that the time the dynamics cart
spent going to the final position is inversely related to the inclination of the track.
As the track goes steeper, the time required for the cart to go down the track
becomes faster. It is because gravity exerts a larger force on the cart, as the angle
becomes steeper, which causes a greater acceleration, thus, making the time spent
shorter.
Lastly, Part C. First step is to position the photogate horizontally. Set the timer to
Accel: One Gate. When ready, please the third button. The picket fence has to be
dropped vertically, making sure that it has passed through the photobeam
perpendicularly.

Given the data above, the computed g for the last part is closer to the
actual gravitational

constant

maybe

because

it

does

not

deal

with

friction, only air resistance which may be negligible due to the structure of the
picket fence. The experimental values for g are a bit close from the actual value g
which is 980 cm/s2. The values are somewhat close to the actual value of the
acceleration due to gravity, with slight percent error. The slight percent error
maybe caused by human error or inaccuracy on the free falling of the picket fence.
After

the

experiment

we have

analyzed

that kinematics is

quantitativedescription of motion without reference to its physical causes or

the forces that develop the motion.

Translation is the physical term for

straight-line motion. This experiment deals with kinematics of translation

speed is the distance that a body moves in a unit time. Velocity is the speed of
the body associated with a direction.
changing velocities.

In the real world, objects move with

Acceleration is the change in velocity with respect to

time. Velocity can change in three ways: (a) change in speed, (b) change in
direction, and (c) change in speed as well as direction. The experiment only
deals with motion in a straight line so the second and the third changes in
velocity are not part of

the experiment. Analogy-wise, acceleration is to

velocity as velocity is to position. The value of the height in which the value
of sin heavily relies on, increases along with the increasing value of

acceleration. Which means that the height is directly proportional to its

acceleration. Time is related to the inclination of the track in such a way that
its height and gravitational pull are considered factors that affect the moving,
free-falling objects acceleration. There is no significant difference between
them as they are interrelated. It is because the acceleration that takes place on
the picket fence will have the value taken from the slope of a graph of average
velocity with respect to time.

CONCLUSION
Therefore, from the data we gathered on this experiment, the effects of the
height of the track can greatly affect the acceleration of the cart. Base on the data
on the table, the higher the height of the track will have higher acceleration and
will lead to higher sin . From this, it implies that the higher the displacement of
the track will lead to the higher acceleration of the cart. The reason why the cart
will have higher acceleration to higher displacement it is because of the continues
gravitational pull to the cart without restriction to its track. Time and the
inclination of the track are interrelated to each other. As for the higher the
inclination of the track will lead to shorter time to takes the cart to goes down to
the track. The time will become shorter because as for the higher the inclination of
the track will also have higher acceleration which means the cart will become
faster and thats why it will takes shorter time to goes down to the track. The

difference between the picket fences acceleration and the value of g is the value of
the slope of a graph of average velocity versus time will be the acceleration due to
gravity of the falling object. And also the value of g is the computed value for the
free fall acceleration, while the picket fences acceleration is the value that
gathered by manual experimentation for the free fall acceleration, that is also why
the data on the g of table 2 and the data on table 3 have the similarities on the digits
or values.