PhysicsLab#2

MateoGmez
MichaelBoyer
FreeFallLab
Introduction:
Thepurposeofthislabwastoapproachexperimentallythegravitationalconstantwiththree
differentobjects.Because g (gravitationalconstant)isaconstantacceleration,akinematic
equationwasusedtofindthisvalueexperimentally.
1
x ( t )=x o + v 0 t+ g t 2 (Equation1)
2
v 0 Standsfortheinitialvelocityinthe y direction,

x 0 Standsfortheinitialheight(intheydirection)atanytime t

t Standsfortimeinseconds.

Experimentallythegravitationalconstantequalsto 9.8 m/s 2 ,thisvalueistrueonlyforobjects

fallinginavacuum(noairresistance).Becausethelabwasdoneinaspacewithairresistancethe
valueof g willchangedependingontheobjectssurfaceareaandweight.Forthethreeobjects
used(beachball,basketballandtennisball)thebeachballshouldbemoreaffectedbytheair
resistancethanthetennisballandthebasketball.Also,thisvalueisnegativewhenitisplugged
intotheequationbecausegravityacceleratestheobjectsinthenegative y direction
(accelerationvectorpointsdown).
Experimental
Materials:
Beachball,tennisball,basketball.
Sensor
Loggerpro
Meterstick
Procedure:
Thebeachballwasholdlessthanonemeterabovethesensorbyoneofthegroupmembers
whileotheronewasclosetothesensortogriptheballsoitdoesnothitthesensor.Theballwas
droppedwithoutgivinganyinitialvelocity(ortheminimumaspossible),whileloggerproreadthe
ballstrajectory.Thisprocesswasrepeatedthreetimesforthebeachballandthreetimesforthe
basketball.Thetennisballwasdroppedcloselytothesensortogetabetterreadingofitstrajectory.
Thetennisballwasdroppedonlyonetime.Allthedatewasrecordedinloggerprowhichgavean
1
m
approximationparabolicfittothedatainthe A x2 + Bx+C where A= g=4.9 2 and
2
s
wastransferredintoanexceldocument.
Then,thereactiontimeoftheexperimenterwhocaughttheballwasmeasuredbyholdinga
meterstickverticallywhilehewasplacingthethumbandthefingerwithouttouchingit.Themeter
wasdroppedandtheexperimenterneededtoclosethefingerstocatchthemeterasfasterashe
could.Thisprocesswasrepeatedfivetimesandthetimewascalculatedwithequation1,where
v 0 =0

Data:
BeachBall
Time
(s)
0.8
0.85
0.9
0.95
1
1.05
1.1
Time
(s)
0.75
0.8
0.85
0.9
0.95
1

Position
(m)
1.18678
1.1612608
1.1165336
1.0553424
0.9815288
0.8920744
0.8061872

Velocity
(m/s)
0.394678667
0.707494667
1.041043111
1.335108444
1.600056889
1.812716889
1.026256

Position
Velocity
(m)
(m/s)
1.1672976
0.45977244
4
1.137388
0.76618577
8
1.09074

1.07473333
3
1.0287256
0.46160177
8
0.9513448 1.09714266
7
0.872592 6.18177466
7

Acceleration
(m/s2)
5.095286173
6.039594815
6.061868642
4.987982222
1.393793909
11.8720144
30.77239119

Acceleration
(m/s2)
4.77583037
2.863838272
7.666769877
21.49438436
26.26834749
32.92416227

Time
(s)
0.75
0.8
0.85
0.9

Position
(m)
1.1091248
1.0504032
0.9732968
0.8843912

Velocity
(m/s)
1.021225333
1.345017333
1.645180444
1.920495111

Acceleration
(m/s2)
6.223459753
6.147999753
5.876225185
5.687024691

0.95
1
1.05
1.1

0.783412
0.6615784
0.5276712
0.3893736

2.224012
2.498869333
2.586829778
2.334076889

5.010764198
2.40845284
2.806163457
9.816405926

Averageofa=2.733(m/s2)
Percentdeviation=44.2%
Basketball:
Time(s) Position
(m)
0.7
1.1033624
0.75
1.0347624
0.8
0.9409176
0.85
0.8297856
0.9
0.688744
0.95
0.5252016
1
0.3427256
t2

Velocity(m/s) Acceleration
(m/s2)
1.133881778 8.850839753
1.608288889 9.177663704
2.061353778 9.047577778
2.532712
7.979280988
2.968093333 4.209668642
3.154837778 3.496652099
2.696284889 12.29566074

-x

0
0.0025
0.01
0.0225
0.04
0.0625

0
-0.0686
0.162444
8
0.273576
8
0.414618
4
0.578160
8
0.760636
8

x
0
0.0686
0.16244
48
0.27357
68
0.41461
84
0.57816
08

0.76063
0.09
68
Note:0.7swastakenast=0and1.1033624masx=0.

Grapht2vsx

percentagedeviationoftheslope=66.5%

t^2 vs x
f(x) = 8.17x + 0.06
R = 0.98

Linear ()

Time
(s)
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
0.8
0.85
0.9

Position
(m)
1.0364088
0.9612232
0.8854888
0.7414288
0.588588
0.417088
0.270284

Time
(s)
1.25
1.3
1.35
1.4
1.45
1.5
1.55
1.6
1.65

Position
(m)
1.0366832
1.0103408
0.9606744
0.8868608
0.7905464
0.6689872
0.5219088
0.3531528
0.2025072

Velocity
(m/s)
1.277179556
1.639082667
2.220963111
2.817020889
3.048736444
2.787141778
1.743812

Velocity
(m/s)
0.396812889
0.782802222
1.235714667
1.705548444
2.185748444
2.653905333
2.965959111
2.819764889
1.939550667
Averageofa=4.334(m/s2)

Acceleration
(m/s2)
8.249531111
9.401587654
9.907279753
6.311538765
1.518939506
11.40132
17.43812
Acceleration
(m/s2)
6.025874815
7.95819284
8.98346642
9.295977531
8.757171111
6.149100741
0.010332346
9.028606914
15.28636667

Percentdeviation=11.5%
TennisBall
Time(s)
1.1
1.15
1.2

Position(m)
0.4494672
0.4258688
0.3858064

Velocity(m/s)
0.340560889
0.680359556
1.108728444

Acceleration(m/s2)
5.447094074
6.912847407
6.175100988

1.25
1.3
1.35

0.316932
0.2192456
0.1311632

1.482064889
1.451118667
0.681579111

1.57652963
6.088122963
10.07014123

Percentdeviation=19.4%
ReactionTime
Xicm
50cm
50cm
50cm
50cm
50cm

Xfcm
73cm
76cm
66cm
70cm
78cm
Average:

XfXicm
23
26
16
20
28
22.6cm
0.226m

1
0.226= 9.8t 2
2
t=0.214 s=averagereaction time
Percentdeviation=22.2%(averageacceptedvalue=0.175s)
Analysis:

Accepted Value 100

Experimental Value Accepted Value

Percent Deviation=

Togetabetterapproximationitwillbeeasiertodroptheballfromahigherstartingpoint
sothattheprogramcangetmoredata.Also,theparabolicfitsthatloggerprocalculatedhavean
initialvelocity,thisaffecttheAvalueintheequation.Theexperimentwasdonewiththeleast
possibleinitialvelocity,butbecauseLoggerProalwayscalculatethebestfitequationitcanchange
thevalueofAandcalculateavalueinBandadifferentvalueCsothetrajectoryfitsbetter.This
doesnotmeanthatthefitiswrong,sincetheexperimentalvaluewasclosetotheacceptedvalue.In
contrast,thebeachballhadahighpercentdeviation.Thisiscausedbytheairresistancethatthe
ballhas,aswellastheproblemmentionedpreviously(fitcalculatedwithanstartingvelocityand
differentaltitude).Thebeachballhasahigherairresistancethantheothertwoballsbecauseitis
lighterandhasalargersurfacearea.Eventhoughitisreasonabletofindagreaterpercentdeviation
inthebeachball,thepercentdeviationfoundinitwashighenough(44.2%)tolookforanother
explanation(fitcalculatedwithanstartingvelocity).Thiscanbefixed,forthethreeballs,by
extrapolatingthegraphinawaythatwhent=0,v0=0andC=startingaltitudevalueinmeters.
Inthisexperimenttheinitialvelocitywasmeanttobe0m/sbecausethethreeballswere
1 2
droppedatrest.Thismeansthattheequation1canbesimplifiedinto x ( t )=x o + g t .
2
Furthermore,thisequationcouldbetransformedintoalinearequationsquaringthetvalues,sothe
1
g andtheyintercept=tox0.Toplotthisgraph,themostaccuratedataofthe
slopewillbe
2
sevencollectedwasused(thedatathathadtheclosesAvaluesto4.9).Theoretically,theslopeof
thegraphwillbe4.9,buttheslopeofthisgraphis8.16.Thishasapercentagedeviationof66.5%,
ahighpercentage,whichindicatesthattherewasanissueintheexperiment.Indeed,thishasthe

sameproblemasvaluesofAcalculatedforeachtry.Thisexplainsthehighpercentagedeviationof
thegraph.Nevertheless,thiscanbefixedbyextrapolatingthedataandtrytofindthecorrect
equationfortheresults.
Finally,thereactiontimeoftheexperimenterthatcaughttheballwascalculated(0.214s).
Thisvalueisalittlebithigherthantheaveragevalueforteenagersthatarebetween0.160sto
0.190s.Anaverageof0.160and0.190togetanacceptedvaluetocalculatethepercentdeviation
ofreactiontimewascalculated.Thepercentdeviationis22.2%,thismeansthattheexperimenteris
abovetheaveragereactiontime.