PHY1010 Laboratory

Lab:

Range

Submitted by: mwop

Partners:

Cassandra

Date of lab:

September 28, 2016

Objective
Determine the range of an object in free-fall experimentally and compare the results to the true or
expected value as obtained from the equations of motion.
Theory
The purpose of this lab was to be able to measure the speed of an object and the height it free-falls from
and see if we can then estimate the distant an item will fall based on its speed.
Materials

Marble

Meter Stick

Tape

Pen

Paper

Carbon Paper

Stopwatch

Procedure

We measured the height of the table.

We measured a meter from the tables edge, putting tape on both sides of the meter to show a
start point and end point.

We also measured where on the floor the end of the table was because it didnt line up with the
legs of the table.

We then practiced rolling the ball from start point to end point and noticed where the ball was
landing on average on the floor.

After finding an average of where the marbles were ending up we placed a white piece of paper
taped on the floor with a carbon paper on top of it.

We then rolled the marbles off the table using a stop watch to mark the amount of time
between the start and the stop marks

As the marbles hit the paper we marked which trials matched which marks and measured the
distance from the edge of the table mark we made prior with tape.

Data
Figure 1

Based on Table 1
Table 1
Trial

Distance[m]

Time [s]

Initial Speed

Measured

Predicted

% Dev in

v0 [m/s]

Range [m]

Range [m]

Range

1.0

1.46

0.68

0.18

0.28

-36

1.0

1.71

0.58

0.22

0.24

-8.3

1.0

2.23

0.45

0.14

0.19

-26

1.0

1.77

0.56

0.15

0.23

-35

1.0

1.58

0.63

0.31

0.26

19

1.0

1.38

0.72

0.26

0.30

-13

Equations for Table 1

Math for Trial 1 Initial speed

vo

1m
0.68m / s
1.46s

Math for Trial 1 Initial Range

R .68

85(2)
9.8

.28

Math for Trial 1 % Deviation in Range

vo

.018m 0.28m
x100 36
0.28m

Conclusion and Summary

In this lab experiment we studied the relationship between velocity, range, and height when related to a
freefall problem.
Our results came out a little all over the place when compared with what was predicted. This could be
attributed to a lot of things such as mistake in timing with the stop watch, measurement errors, or a
number of small errors throughout the experiment. The one thing that I think was overall the cause of
the inaccurate data could be attributed to the small amount of range we allowed for the marble to hit the
paper. To amend this we could of set up more papers with carbon paper on top of it to give a wider
range for the marble to hit allowing us to have greater range and more diverse results at the end of the
experiment.
Overall this lab was a good overview of Relations in range and expected outcomes. This lab
was also a good review on what factors to take into account when looking at what variables you want
to take away from the experiment as well as how to sum up data that isnt too viable or expected.

Questions

Question 1: Compare your trend line equation with equation 1. What should the slope of your
trend line be equal to in terms of H and g? Is it? (What is the percent difference?)
A:
Question 2: If the table used for this experiment were twice as high would you expect results to
improve? If so, why?
A: Id expect my results to be worse for the fact that it allows greater means for error which
was an issue in this lab.
Question 3: Are your results better at slow speeds or fast speeds?
A: My results showed about an equal quality in results for both slow and fast speeds with the
best results coming in right about the center of the speeds with trial 2.
Question 4: Derive EQ 1: starting with kinematics equations.
A: R 2v cos 45 2H