CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Physics211 / Section 13- 18375

Acceleration of A Mass on A Ramp

Prepared by:
John Capps
TraVaughn Montgomery
Rodney Pujada

Performance Date: Thursday, January 21, 2016

Submission Due: Thursday, January 28, 2016
Professor: Yese J. Felipe
Thursday: 1:30 pm. 4:00 p.m.

January 2016

Experiment No 3:
I.

II.

Acceleration of A Mass on
A Ramp

PURPOSE
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the acceleration of a mass on a
ramp and compare the result to the theoretical prediction obtained through
Newtons second Law of motion which predicts that the acceleration due to
gravity of an object is independent of objects mass.
INTRODUCTION
Newtons Second
Law and Universal Law of gravity quantify Galileos observations. For an object
on a frictionless incline plane (=0), the acceleration of the object along the
direction of motion is related to the angle of inclination and the acceleration due
to gravity, g, by (see free body diagram):

The angle of inclination, ,

for height, h, and 1 meter
length of the air track is
tan /1 = h m
Since the angle is less than
5 degrees, the small angle
approximation can be
applied here.
Thus the angle (in radian measure) can be approximated as:
tan /1 h m
When the velocity of the particle changes, it is said to accelerate. Considering
its motion along an axis, the average acceleration, aavg over a time interval t
is given by:

In summary, the acceleration of a particle is the rate at which its velocity is

changing at that instant; the velocity of the particle is the rate that the position
is changing at that instant. The acceleration at a particular point in time can be
found graphically by finding the slope at that corresponding point on the curve
of v(t).

III.

PROCEDURE
a) We made sure that the air track was level.
b) We raised the air track at the end with the single leg by placing two blocks
under it.
c) We then measured the height (h) and the Length (H) of the air track and
calculated sin() using sin() = h/H. The theoretical acceleration was
measured at aT = g*sin(), which in our case was
26.868858 cm/s2
d) We then slid the rider down the track while measurements in .1 second
increments where being recorded on a strip of tape.
e) We then took the same measurements with the rider going up the track.
f) We determined the velocity by calculating displacement / time.
g) We calculated the experimental acceleration by calculating velocity/ time
for downhill and uphill acceleration. Then took the average of the two to
cancel out any errors.
Downhill Acceleration is 28.485 cm/s2
Uphill Acceleration is -30.063 cm/s2

IV.

DATA AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Tabulate the data for Downhill in our air track equipment.
Table No 1: Average Velocity by Downhill .
Data
#
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35

Time
(secon
d)
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2.0
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3.0
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5

X
(cm)
9.72
11.01
12.6
14.51
16.68
19.02
21.79
24.8
28.04
31.62
35.5
39.58
44.02
48.75
53.7
59.01
64.6
70.45
76.65
83.08
89.8
96.85
104.13
111.72
119.6
127.72
136.15
144.82
153.88
163.2
172.7
182.55
192.65
203.07
213.7
224.68

x
(cm)

Average
velocity

2.88

14.4

4.08

20.4

5.11

25.55

6.25

31.25

7.46

37.3

8.52

42.6

9.68

48.4

10.9

54.5

12.05

60.25

13.15

65.75

14.33

71.65

15.47

77.35

16.55

82.75

17.73

88.65

18.82

94.1

19.95

99.75

21.05

105.25

4.2 Graph the average velocity by Downhill in our air track equipment.

Table No 2: Average Velocity by Downhill.

Graph No
Downhill .

Time
(seco
nd)
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
2.7
2.9
3.1
3.3
3.5

Averag
e
velocity
14.4
20.4
25.6
31.3
37.3
37.3
42.6
48.4
54.5
60.3
65.8
71.7
77.4
82.8
88.7
94.1
99.8
105.3

Accelera
tion
(cm/s2)
144.0
68.0
51.1
44.6
41.4
33.9
32.8
32.3
32.1
31.7
31.3
31.2
30.9
30.6
30.6
30.4
30.2
30.1

Average

Velocity

4.3 Tabulate the data for Uphill in our air track equipment.

by

Data
#

Time
(seco
nd)

X
(cm)

x
(cm)

Avera
ge
veloci
ty

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2.0
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3.0
3.1
3.2

47
56.9
66.4
75.8
84.7
93.4
101.8
109.8
117.6
125.1
132.2
138.9
145.6
151.9
157.9
163.5
168.9
173.9
178.6
183.2
187.3
191.2
194.7
198
201
203.6
206
208.1
209.8
210.2
212.4
213.3
214.1

19.4

97

18.3

91.5

17.1

85.5

15.8

79

14.6

73

13.4

67

12.3

61.5

11

55

9.7

48.5

8.7

43.5

7.4

37

6.3

31.5

25

3.8

19

2.6

13

1.7

8.5

4.4 Graph the average velocity by Uphill in our air track equipment.
Table No 2: Average Velocity by Uphill .
Time
(seco
nd)

Graph
.

4.5.

No

0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
2.7
2.9
3.1
3.3

Avera
ge
veloci
ty
97
91.5
85.5
79
73
67
61.5
55
48.5
43.5
37
31.5
25
19
13
8.5
0

Accelerat
ion
(cm/s2)
970.0
305.0
171.0
112.9
81.1
60.9
47.3
36.7
28.5
22.9
17.6
13.7
10.0
7.0
4.5
2.7
0.0

Average Velocity by Uphill

Calculate the average acceleration theorycal.

4.5.1 Calculate the angle ()

Data:
H = 250 cm
h = H * Sin () = 6.855 cm
Resolve for Sin () = 6.855/250
Sin () = 0.02742
4.5.2 Calculate the acceleration theorycal
By F= Ma and F = M*g Sin () we compare.
M*a = M*g Sin ()
a = g Sin ()
a = g Sin
()
DATA: g =979.9 cm/s2 and Sin = 0.02742
a = g Sin ()
a = ( 979.9 cm/s2 )(0.0262)
a = 26.87 cm/s2
a = 26.87
cm/s2
4.5.2 Calculate the percent of error from Graph No 1 and No 2
DATA:
For Downhill experiment:
Experimental Acceleration (cm/s2) = 28.485 cm/s2
Theorycal Acceleration (cm/s2) = 26.87 cm/s2
For Uphill experiment:
Experimental Acceleration (cm/s2) = 30.063 cm/s2
Theorycal Acceleration (cm/s2) = 26.87 cm/s2
Percent error = ( Ac practical Ac theorycal) x 100 %
. Formula No 2
Ac theorycal
Using the formula No 2 to evaluate percent of error for downhill
Percent error = (28.485 - 26.87) x 100 % = -6 %
26.87
Percent error =
-6 %
Using the formula No 2 to evaluate percent of error for Uphill
Percent error = (30.063 - 26.87) x 100 % = -6 %
26.87

V.

Percent error =
-11.9 %
Results

Acceleration

Downhill

Uphill

Experimental Acceleration
(cm/s2)

28.485

30.063

Theorycal Acceleration (cm/s2)

26.87

26.87

Percent of Error (%)

-6.0

-11.9

The

acceleration of an air track on an inclined air track by the earths gravity

was measured independent to the mass of the air track by downhill is
28.485 cm/s2 and uphill is 30.063 cm/s2 with a small percent of error for
-6.0 % downhill and -11.9 % for uphill.
This lab helped us learn how to make measurements the acceleration.
We verify second Newtons law of motion calculating a theoretical
acceleration of 26.87 cm/s2.
We determinate a experimental acceleration by the graphic method from
our data of average velocity because the slope of each graph shows the
acceleration. Also we can appreciate the slope is negative for
deceleration (-30.063 cm/s 2) than the positive slope for acceleration
(+28.485 cm/s2).

VII References
Department of Physics and Astronomy (Editionn1.1,University Bookstore
Custom Publising, pp. 4-9
http://www.santarosa.edu/~lwillia2/41/40samplelab1.pdf