Atwood Machine Lab

ABSTRACT
In our experiment, we first put a car on an Atwood machine, and a small
weight to pull the car down. We were trying to figure out what the
acceleration of the car would be. We had to figure that out by doing
numerous calculations (in procedures and data). The car, on an Atwood
machine, had a mass of 0.761 kg. The string was connected to a mass of
0.019kg, and it was pulling down on the car. Our group found out that
the acceleration would be about 0.243589744 m/s^2. We were a little bit
off because we didnt calculate the weight of the string, and include the
friction of the car.
PROCEDURES
The first thing that we did was write down the mass of object 1
and object 2. Object 1 was 0.761kg, and Object 2 was 0.019kg. We
labeled object one the car, and object 2 the weight, after that we created
a force diagram for each object. For the cars diagram we calculated
gravity by multiplying 0.761kg by 10 kg and getting 7.61N (we picked
10 because that will always be acceleration due to gravity). We also put
Normal force as 7.61N because Normal force and Gravity balance out
since the object is on a surface.We then drew an arrow for Applied force
to the right, but we still needed to find out the amount of Applied force.
For the weights force diagram we drew an arrow down and labeled it
Gravity and the amount of force 0.19N. We calculated that number by
multiplying 0.019 by 10. We did not add in Normal force because there
was no surface.
After we made our force diagrams we combined the masses of the
car and the weight and got 0.78kg. We combined these because the car
and the weight were connected by a string so we treated them as one
whole object. After we did that we created another force diagram for the
combined masses. We drew an arrow down for gravity and found the
amount of gravity was 7.8N. We found this by doing 0.78 multiplied by
10. Then we drew an arrow up for Normal force and put 7.8N as the
amount of force as well to balance out Gravity. Then we drew an arrow
to the right and labeled it Applied force. We found the Applied force to
be the weight pulling on the car making it move, so we put the amount
of Applied force as 0.19N because that was the weights force of gravity.
We realized that the Gravity and the Normal force would cancel out, and
we were left with 0.19N right as our overall force.
The very last thing that we had to do was find the acceleration of
the system. To do this we used Newtons 2nd law (F=ma). Our overall
force was 0.19N, so we put that number in for F. Then we put our mass,
which was 0.78kg, in for m. Then we divided by 0.78 on each side and
ended up with our acceleration as 0.243589744 meters per second
squared. We then went up to check our results with Mr.Ross. When we
examined the acceleration graph and the position vs time graph we
found our results were extremely close. We were very successful in our
experiment.
DATA
Mass 1: 0.761 Mass 2: 0.019
0.761N + 0.19kg = 0.78kg
0.78kg x 10 m/s^2 = 7.8N
F = ma
.19 =.78a
------------Acceleration = 0.243589744
.78 .78

This is our graph.
CONCLUSION
During this experiment we learned how forces apply to one another. Our
original question was, What is the acceleration of the objects treated as
one? Our answer was pretty close in accuracy. During this lab we
learned that even leaving out a small piece of information can affect the
lab a little bit. This experiment is very dependent on accurate data. This
experiment helped our group learn that every piece of information is
important, even if its very small because everything adds up. The
experiment also helped us work together and share information amongst
one another.
DISCUSSION
During this lab we came across a few difficult procedures. We
had trouble figuring out what the applied force was and it threw off our
calculations when it came to calculating the overall force. We also failed
to recall the weights force that impacted the car. We later figured out
that the weight was the applied force of the car. When we finished our
calculations for the overall force we finally figured out our acceleration
which was 0.243589744 m/s^2. Next, we tested it with Mr. Ross and our
acceleration turned out to be close to the correct acceleration.
Our group came up with a few ideas on how might our
calculations be slightly off. One was the weight of the string. We never
really incorporated the weight of the string as a class, and that could
have been our minor mistake. Another prediction was that we havent
included the friction from the car. As a class we knew that the car
produced very little friction so we were told not to use the friction, but
that small amount of friction could have been another minor mistake that
slightly threw off our calculations.
Throughout the lab we did forget about the weight a lot which got us
confused on the applied force mainly, but other than that we understood
the whole process of calculating the force of gravity, the overall force,
and the acceleration. Our overall results on the Atwood Machine Lab
were sufficient and acceptable.