Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Yejin Hwang
Introduction
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate objects undergo uniformly accelerated motion,
and see how its velocity and displacement change with time. In class we had learned that an
object falls with an acceleration due to gravity that is only affected by air resistance and not by
weight. With the experiment, we learned to prove this statement. For the lab, I measured with the
meter stick, the values recorded on the thin timer paper by the spark-timer. Then, we calculated
the velocity. I learned to distinguish between average and instantaneous velocity with hands on
material, instead of just for a physics problem. I learned that velocity and distance change
uniformly over time, for an object falling in free fall. And finally, through the experiment, I
learned to determine the uniform acceleration of an object with its displacement and time
measurements.

Questions:
A1. Does a heavier object fall faster than a lighter object? What do your experimental results
show?
The weight or mass of an object does not affect how fast the object falls. Rather, it is the
surface area of the object that resists with air that affects the speed/acceleration.
Out experiment showed that the 20g weight fell at 9.27m/s2 and the 50g fell at 9.24m/s2. If
anything, the heavier object seems to have fell slower. The difference in acceleration is most
likely due to experimental errors; however, it could also be because the 50g weight was bigger
and had more surface are, air resistance slowed it down.

A2. What is probably the greatest source of error in the experimental procedure? Is it random or
systematic error?
Systematic error because the weights were not of the same volume or have the same
surface area. The 50g was larger than the 20g, thus having more air resistance.

B1. Suppose that a different spark-timer interval were used. How would this affect the slope of
the graph of v versus t?
The slope would not be affected because the displacement would uniformly change in
accordance to the change in time interval as well. So, the overall acceleration would stay
theoretically constant.

B2. What would be the shape of the curve of a graph y versus t of the experimental data?
It would show an exponential growth curve. This is because the displacement would
between the time intervals would increase as the object accelerates.

B3. If t=0 were taken to be associated with some line spot other than y0, how would this affect
the v versus t graph?
The slope would be the same, but the entire graph would have been moved up.
B4. Calculate v0 directly from the first two measurement entries in Data Table 2, using the
equation:
(Sample Calculations for both masses)