Bensig, Jhon L.

12-LOCKE

LAB PRACTICUM: DYNAMICS

TASK:

Your goal is to accelerate the cart through the use of stopwatch in a preset time.

1. Acceleration

First, this experiment would not be able to use a photogates because of the lack in materials. In
alternative, we used a cart on an incline with pulley that is connected with the circular weights tie on a
string hanged to the other side of the incline. For the computation of acceleration, the cart's distance
from the top if the incline is 0.50 m in 1 second. We can use the formula for uniform acceleration:

x=at + ut

0.5= a (1) + 0(1)

Therefore, the acceleration of the cart covered from 0.5 meter must be 1 m/s

2. Theoretical solution

First, let us neglect friction as one of the factor that will affect the acceleration of the cart.

Fn T
n
m

mgcos
mgsin mg

Image 1. Free Body Diagram of the First Testing

The mass (m) of the cart is 0.507 kilograms, gravitational acceleration (g) at Manila is 9.78m/s,
acceleration (a) is 1m/s, and the angle of the incline () is 7.
Equation:

Solving for the mass (M) of the weights that will give the cart an acceleration of 1 m/s

F = m a = T mgsin... Eq. 1

F = M a = Mg T... Eq. 2

Adding equations 1 and 2

ma + Ma = Mg mgsin

ma + Ma = Mg mgsin

Ma Mg = mgsin ma

M(a g) = mgsin ma
ma
= , we can now find the value of M by substituting all the given values.
ag

(0.507kg)(9.78m/s)(sin7) (0.507kg)(1m/s)
=
1m/s 9.78m/s

Therefore, the mass (M) of the weights that will be used in the experiment without considering the
friction will be 127 grams.

Trials Time (seconds)

1 1.09

2 1.09

3 1.17

4 1.11

5 1.12

Table 1. The time it takes for the cart to move to its final position in 127 grams
 We can calculate for its average time to get its acceleration:

average time = (1.09 + 1.09 + 1.17 + 1.11 + 1.12) / 5 = 1.116 seconds

x=at + ut, 0.50 = a (1.116) + (0)(1.022)

a= 0.803 m/s that is too far from expected acceleration 1 m/s

Thus, the frictional force really affects the expected value of the time and acceleration.

RESOLVING AND INCLUDING THE FRICTIONAL FORCE

T
Fn
n T

mgcos
mgsin mg

Ff

Image 2. Free Body Diagram of the Second Testing

The mass (m) of the cart is 0.507 kilograms, mass (M) of the weight is 0.127 kg, gravitational
acceleration(g) is 9.78m/s, computed acceleration (a) is 0.803m/s, and the angle of the incline() is 7.

Equation in finding the kinetic coefficient (): Ff = wcos = mgcos

m a = T mgsin mgcos... Eq. 1

M a = Mg T... Eq. 2

Adding equations 1 and 2;

ma + Ma = Mg- mgsin - mgcos

mgcos = Mg mgsin ma Ma

Mg mgsin ma Ma
=
mgcos

[(0.127kg)(9.78m/s) (0.507kg)(9.78m/s)(sin 7) (0.507kg)(0.803m/s) (0.127kg)(0.803m/s)]

=
[(0.507kg)(9.78m/s)(cos 7)]

= 0.026, friction coefficient

Now we include friction as a factor that affects the acceleration of the cart, then by substituting these
values to the new equation to get the closest acceleration to 1 m/s by getting the new mass (M) of the
circular blocks.

The mass (m) of the cart is 0.507 kilograms, gravitational acceleration (g) at Manila is 9.78m/s,
acceleration (a) is 1m/s, and the angle of the incline() is 7.

F = m a = T (mgcos + mgsin)... Eq. 1

F = M a = Mg T ... Eq. 2

Adding equations 1 and 2

ma + Ma = Mg - mgcos - mgsin

Ma - Mg = -ma- mgcos - mgsin

M(a-g) = -ma- mgcos mgsin

(ma mgcos mgcos)

=
(a g)

[(0.507kg)(1m/s) (0.026)(0.507kg)(9.78m/s)(cos7) (0.507)(9.78m/s)(sin7)]

=
(1m/s 9.78m/s)

= 0.141 kilograms = 141 grams

Testing:

Trials Time (seconds)

1 1.04

2 1.04

3 1.02

4 0.99

5 1.02

Table 2. The time it takes for the cart to move to its final position in 141 grams
 We can calculate for its average time to get its acceleration:

average time = (1.04 + 1.04 + 1.02 + 0.99 + 1.02) / 5 = 1.022 seconds

x=at + ut, 0.50 = a (1.022) + (0)(1.022)

a=0.957 m/s that is approximately 1 m/s

4. Conclusion

In the first testing, we neglect the frictional force as a factor in getting the time (t) as 1.00 s.
There is a difference of approximately 0.116 second, we resolved the equation and try to find the
nearest possible average time when we include the frictional force. In the second testing, we got an
average of 1.022 seconds with an approximately 0.022 second difference from the target time. The
second testing is more reliable because we got the nearest and possible difference we should get and
also we included friction as a factor. Thus, we can conclude that friction affects the acceleration of a
thing in motion.

The possible uncertainties are device errors, measurement errors and also the human errors.
We used a stopwatch in getting the time it takes for the cart to reach its final position. We can also say
that human errors, because we only hold the cart and release it by the stopwatch starts to run. Maybe
using a photogates can measure the time more accurate and closer to the time needed.
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