Physics Lab Report

Free Fall Experiment

Instructor: Dr. Zahoor Ahmed Date: Sunday March 16, 2014 Assignment number: 2 Name: Hadeel Kareem Lami Student Id: 201303795

Aim
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the free fall acceleration due to Earths gravity using photo-light sensors.

Hypothesis
I hypothesize that the value of acceleration obtained will be less than the accepted value of acceleration due to earths gravity (9.8 m/sec2 ), because in this experiment the ball is under the influence of factors other than gravity. I assume that the free fall acceleration does not vary with altitude over short vertical distances.

Abstract
Any object thrown or released from rest, regardless of its mass, experiences a constant acceleration downwards due to gravity (assuming that there is no/negligible air resistance). The value of this constant acceleration on Earths surface is accepted as 9.8 m/ sec 2. As the ball falls, its velocity increases, which is given by the ratio of the distance traveled during a certain time interval; vaverage=y/t. The average acceleration can then be calculated by dividing the average velocity by the average time taken; aaverage=v/t. Another way to calculate the instantaneous acceleration at certain times is to use the 1 position equation; y vi t at 2 . 2 Holder Small ball Meter rule Two photo-light sensors Digital timer Plastic basket

Equipment
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Method
1. Using the meter rule, measure a distance of 20 cm between the two photogates using a similar reference point (e.g. from the top of one photogate to the top of the other photogate.) 2. Place the plastic basket directly below the sensors. 3. Set up the digital timer. 4. Drop the ball vertically from a fixed distance above the top photogate. 5. Record the distance used and time displayed on the timer in a table. 6. Repeat steps 3 5 two times. 7. Repeat the whole procedure with different distances (30, 40, 50 and 60 cm). 8. From the recorded results, calculate the velocity then generate a graph of velocity in cm/sec against time to find acceleration.

Observations
From the table of results, it is clear that as the distance traveled increases, velocity also increases. Plotted in a graph, we can visually trace the increase in velocity (since the slope of distance-time graph represents velocity.)

Distance between the 2 sensors (cm) 20 30 40 50 60

Uncertainty on the distance 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

Time (sec) t1 0.098 0.142 0.169 0.204 0.234 t2 0.096 0.146 0.172 0.204 0.234 t3 0.098 0.14 0.17 0.205 0.231

Time average (s) 0.097 0.143 0.170 0.204 0.233

Velocity (cm/s) 205.5 210.3 234.8 244.7 257.5

Free Fall Graph

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 0.05 0.1 t(s) 0.15 0.2 0.25

Analysis and Calculations

To find acceleration from the graph: 1- Find the slope of the gradient. From the equation generated by Excel (y = 407.3x + 161.5), slope is 407.3.

V=t/s (cm/s)

2- Use the equation:

slope = g 2* 407.3 = g = 814 cm/s2

Average acceleration due to gravity, gavg = 8.14 m/sec2 Accepted acceleration due to gravity, gaccepted = 9.80 m/sec2
Percent difference calculation:

difference in values being compared 100 accepted value 9.8 8.14 %diff 100 16 .9% 9.8 %diff

Discussion and Conclusion

What do I conclude from this experiment? Is the percentage error acceptable? Where does this error come from? How could I get a more accurate result?

From this experiment, I have obtained an average value of acceleration due to gravity =(9 , which proves my initial hypothesis since it is lower than the actual value of 9.81 m/s. My measurement has a relatively high percentage error, which may be caused as I mentioned in my hypothesis- by various factors. Since the ball we used is very light, air resistance is the most significant error factor; because it causes higher drag around lighter objects so the acceleration of g will be less. In addition, in this experiment I neglected the force exerted on the ball by air resistance, which is a main cause for a systematic error (not a random error); ignoring the air resistance changes our values systematically and can be corrected by estimating air resistance value.