LabQuest

Atwoods Machine

10

AstandardexperimentinphysicsistheAtwoodsmachine:Twomassesoneithersideofa
pulleyconnectedbyalightstring.Whenreleased,theheaviermasswillacceleratedownward
whilethelighteroneacceleratesupwardatthesamerate.Theaccelerationdependsonthe
differenceinthetwomassesaswellasthetotalmass.
Inthislab,youwilldeterminetherelationshipbetweenthetwofactorsthatinfluencethe
accelerationofanAtwoodsmachineusingaPhotogatetorecordthemachinesmotion.

40 cm

Figure1

PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS (DO THESE BEFORE LAB)

1. Iftwoobjectsofequalmassaresuspendedfromeitherendofastringpassingoveralight
pulley(anAtwoodsmachine),whatkindofmotiondoyouexpecttooccur?Why?
2. ForanAtwoodsmachine,howwouldyouexpecttheaccelerationtochangeifyou:

Movemassfromonesidetotheother,keepingthetotalmassconstant?
Graduallyincreasethemassofbothsides,keepingthedifferenceinmassconstant?

3. Whydothetwomasseshavethesameacceleration?
4. Drawafreebodydiagramoftheleftsidemass.Drawanotherfreebodydiagramoftheright
sidemass.Includeallforcesactingoneachmass.

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I.)

PURPOSE

UseaPhotogatetostudytheaccelerationofanAtwoodsmachine.
DeterminetherelationshipsbetweenthemassesonanAtwoodsmachineandthe
acceleration.

II.)

MATERIALS

LabQuest
LabQuestApp
VernierPhotogatewith
UltraPulleyAttachment

III.)

massset
string
(optional)LoggerProorgraphpaper

PROCEDURE

Part I Constant Total Mass

Forthispartoftheexperimentyouwillkeepthetotalmassusedconstant,butmoveweights
fromonesidetotheother.
1. SetuptheAtwoodsmachineapparatusasshowninFigure1.Besurethatthemassescan
moveatleast40cmbeforetheheaviermassstrikesthefloor.
2. ConnectthePhotogatetoDIG1ofLabQuestandchooseNewfromtheFilemenu
3. SetupLabQuestforapulleywithastringthatrunsinagroove.
a. OntheMeterscreen,tapMode.
b. SelectPulley(10spoke)ingroove.
c. SelectOK.
4. ArrangeacollectionofmassesonyourAtwoodsmachinetotaling200gform1and180gfor
m2.
5. Tomeasuretheaccelerationofthissystem,pullthesmallermassdownabout40cm.Steady
themassessotheyarenotswinging.Startdatacollection.Afteramoment,releasethe
smallermass,catchingthefallingmassbeforeitstrikesthefloorortheothermassstrikesthe
pulley.
6. Displayonlythevelocityvs.timegraphbychoosingShowGraphGraph2fromtheGraph
menu.Examinethegraph.Thesloperepresentstheaccelerationofthemasses.
7. Fitastraightlinetothevelocityvs.timegraph.
a.
b.
c.
d.

ChooseCurveFitfromtheAnalyzemenu.
SelectLinearastheFitEquation.
Recordtheslopeofthelinearcurvefit(acceleration)inthedatatable.
SelectOK.

8. Remove10gfromm2andaddittom1.Notethatthetotalmassremainsthesame.
9. RepeatSteps57todeterminetheaccelerationofthisnewmasscombination,recordingthe
valuesinthedatatable.
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AtwoodsMachine
10. Continuetomovemassesfromm2tom1in10gincrements,changingthedifferencebetween
themasses,butkeepingthetotalconstant.RepeatSteps57foreachmasscombination.
Recordthedatainthedatatable.
Part II Constant Mass Difference

Forthispartoftheexperimentyouwillkeepthedifferenceinmassbetweenthetwosidesof
theAtwoodsmachineconstantandincreasethetotalmass.
11. Use120gform1and100gform2.
12. Asyoudidbefore,collectdataanddeterminetheacceleration.
13. Addmassin20gincrementstobothsides,keepingaconstantdifferenceof20grams.
Recordtheresultingmassforeachcombinationinthedatatable.Collectmotiondataand
determinetheaccelerationforatleastfivedifferentmasscombinations.

IV.)

DATA TABLE
Part I: Constant Total Mass
Trial

m1
(g)

m2
(g)

200

180

210

170

220

160

230

150

240

140

Acceleration
(m/s2)

m
(g)

mT
(g)

m
(g)

mT
(g)

Part II: Constant Mass Difference

V.)

Trial

m1
(g)

m2
(g)

120

100

140

120

160

140

180

160

200

180

Acceleration
(m/s2)

CALCULATIONS

1. Foreachtrial,calculatethedifferencebetweenm1andm2ingrams.Entertheresultinthe
columnlabeledm.
2. Foreachtrial,calculatethetotalmassingrams.EntertheresultinthecolumnlabeledmT.

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3. Usinggraphpaper,plotagraphofaccelerationvs.m,usingthePartIdata.Basedonyour
analysisofthegraph,whatistherelationshipbetweenthemassdifferenceandthe
accelerationofanAtwoodsmachine?
4. Similarlyconstructagraphofaccelerationvs.totalmass,usingthePartIIdata.Basedon
youranalysisofthegraph,whatistherelationshipbetweentotalmassandtheaccelerationof
anAtwoodsmachine?
5. DevelopasingleexpressionfortheaccelerationofanAtwoodsmachine,combiningthe
resultsoftheprevioustwostepsintheanalysis.

VI.)

QUESTIONS

1. Drawafreebodydiagramofm1andanotherfreebodydiagramofm2.Usingthesediagrams,
applyNewtonssecondlawtoeachmass.Assumethatthetensionisthesameoneachmass
andthattheyhavethesameacceleration.Fromthesetwoequations,findanexpressionfor
theaccelerationofm1intermsofm1,m2,andg.Comparetheexpressiontoyourresultin
Step5ofAnalysis.
2. Foreachoftheexperimentalrunsyoumade,calculatetheexpectedaccelerationusingthe
expressionyoufoundwithNewtonssecondlawofmotionandthespecificmassesused.
Comparethesefigureswithyourexperimentalresults.Aretheexperimentalacceleration
valuesloworhigh?Why?

EXTENSIONS (AS ASSIGNED BY MR. ROONEY

3. AnunknownmasscanbeplacedononesideoftheAtwoodsmachine.Usinglab
measurementsandanynecessarycalculations,confirmthisstatement.
4. Howdoestheforceexertedupwardbythepulleyonthestringchangeasthesystembegins
accelerating?Why?Performanexperimenttodeterminehowthisforcechanges.
5. Howdoesthetensioninthestringchangeasthemassesstarttomove?Ordoesit?

VII.) DISCUSSION OF ERROR

What assumptions did you make during this lab? Are your data close to your calculated
values for acceleration of each block? If they are not close, which one of your assumptions
was most likely to be the cause? Design an experiment to test this assumption.

VIII.) CONCLUSION
Using your own words write a conclusion. The conclusion has the following basic format and
should be 2 to 3 paragraphs long:
a. Claim: Restate your hypothesis; was it correct or incorrect?
b. Evidence: What evidence is there in your data to support or not support your
hypothesis? This is very important, as it connects your results to the conclusion.
c. Reasoning: How does your data support the scientific principle explored in this lab?
This is a research section. Use your text as one reference and you will need one
additional reference beyond the text and the notes.
d. Connections to the Real World: Explain how your results are related to something in
the real world or answer questions about this.
Further Experiment: Give an idea for an experiment that tests this concept further. You may
not describe the same experiment with different materials.

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