TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 PURPOSE........................................................................................................................... 2

2 THEORY ............................................................................................................................ 3

3 APPARATUS ..................................................................................................................... 4

4 PROCEDURE .................................................................................................................... 5

5 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................... 6

5.1 Results calculated ........................................................................................................ 6

5.2 Graphs ......................................................................................................................... 6

5.2.1 Velocity Vs mass ................................................................................................. 6

5.2.2 Squared velocity Vs mass .................................................................................... 7

6 DATA ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION ................................................................................ 8

7 APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................... 10

7.1 For model 1 ............................................................................................................... 10

7.2 For model 2 ............................................................................................................... 10

1
1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this experiment is to calculate the drag force on an object which is falling freely

ie the object which is falling under the action of gravity. The next objective of this experiment

is to calculate the drag force and compare it with experimental value. Now the question arises,

What actually is drag force and how it effects the motion of freely falling body? When an object

falls under the action of gravity, a force acts on it whose direction is opposite to that of the

motion of body, and this force is generally termed as force of friction but in technical sense, it

is known as drag force. Different experiments in this regard have shown that in some cases,

this drag force is proportional to velocity and sometimes drag force is related with the square

of velocity. In the present experiment, it is tried to create a relationship between the velocity of

freely falling object and its mass. And the data collected in this regard will also help us to

calculate the value of drag force on freely falling object.

2
2 THEORY

Drag force is a kind of force which resists the motion of freely falling bodies. The

relationship between this drag force and the velocity of the object can be of two types, one is

a linear proportional relationship between the two and the other one states a direct relation

between drag force and square of velocity. No doubt it is resisting frictional force, but is a

convention in fluid sciences to use the term drag force only for those objects which are falling

freely. Below are the two different relations of drag force:

𝐹𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 = −𝑏𝑣 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 1

𝐹𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 = −𝑐𝑣 2 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 2

In above equations, b and c are constants of proportionality and their numerical value is

dependent on the physical geometry of the object being falling freely and these values of b and

c are termed as drag coefficients.

If we apply first condition of equilibrium on the falling object because we know that the falling

object is in dynamic equilibrium, we come to know that there are 2 different type of forces

acting on the object being fallen freely, one is its weight which always acts downward and

body moves downward due to its weight, and the other one is drag force which always acts

opposite to the motion of body and in this case, it acts upward and when these two forces get

equal the velocity of the body at that particular moment is known as terminal velocity.

3
3 APPARATUS

The apparatus required includes a strainer the one people generally use to filter their coffee or

tea, next requirement is Vernier motion detector plus a Vernier computer interface to visualize

the results on a computer screen. The methodology in brief is to place Vernier motion detector

above the strainer and collect the facts with the help of sensor.

4
4 PROCEDURE

 First of all plug in the male shoe of the Vernier motion detector in the female

counterpart of the computer interface.

 Now make an arrangement so that Vernier motion detector is lifted up from the

surface of ground and maintain an appropriate height, in our case it is 2m.

 After this arrangement, also lift the coffee filter or strainer above the ground in such a

way that there must be a vertical space of half a meter between Vernier motion

detector and the object being fallen.

 After all these adjustments, make the object to freely fall under the action of gravity

and make sure that when object passes the Vernier motion detector, some data is

recorded in the computer interface.

 Take at least 5 readings and then try to correlate the terminal velocity and mass of the

object through some kind of numerical relation.

5
5 RESULTS

5.1 Results calculated

Number of Terminal Velocity Squared terminal velocity

filters 𝑚 𝑚2
( ) ( 2)
𝑠𝑒𝑐 sec

1 0.8004 0.6406

2 1.157 1.3386

3 0.9487 0.9000

4 1.601 2.5632

5 1.013 1.0262

5.2 Graphs

5.2.1 Velocity Vs mass

Terminal Velocity Vs mass

1.8

1.6

1.4 y = 0.0869x + 0.8433

Terminal Velocity (m/s)

1.2

1
Terminal Velocity Vs mass
0.8
Linear (Terminal Velocity Vs
0.6 mass)

0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Mass

6
5.2.2 Squared velocity Vs mass

Terminal Velocity^2 Vs mass

3.0000

2.5000
Terminal Velocity^2 (m/s)2

2.0000
y = 0.1996x + 0.6951

1.5000 Terminal Velocity Vs mass

Linear (Terminal Velocity Vs

1.0000 mass)

0.5000

0.0000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Mass

7
6 DATA ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION

Summarized results

Slope of graph (Velocity Vs. Mass) 0.0869

Slope of graph (Velocity2 Vs. Mass) 0.199

After the successful execution of the experiment, data was collected and arranged in tabular

form and after that graphs were plotted. Two different graphs were plotted one if which is mass

of object vs velocity of the falling object and the other one was between mass of the object and

square of the velocity of the falling object. The slope then obtained or we can say that the value

of gradient in the first case ie between mass vs velocity was found out to be 0.0869 while

appropriate value of this gradient was 1 , so we can say that there are some discrepancies in the

experiment which made the value of slope less than 1 or the 2nd possibility is that may be for

this particular object, mass and velocity are not related linearly.

For the second graph, ie between mass and square of velocity of falling object, it can be

observed that the value of slope or gradient of the graph came out to be 0.199 which is somehow

closer to 1 as compared to 0.0869, so we can say that for this particular experiment mass of the

falling object is directly proportional to the square of the velocity of the object.

Describing about the sources of error in this experiment, we can say that there were many

sources of error that made the value of slope of graph to deviate from expected value of 1 and

these sources include no calibration of Vernier motion sensor, variation in the value of air flow

because of ceiling fans etc.

8
9
7 APPENDIX

Time for falling

ℎ
𝑡= − 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 3
𝑣

7.1 For model 1

𝑚𝑔 = 𝑏 ∗ 𝑉

ℎ
𝑚𝑔 = 𝑏 ∗
𝑡

𝟏
𝒕 = (𝒃𝒉)
𝒎𝒈

7.2 For model 2

𝑚𝑔 = 𝑐 ∗ 𝑉 2

ℎ 2
𝑚𝑔 = 𝑏 ∗ ( )
𝑡

𝒃𝒉𝟐
𝒕=√
𝒎𝒈

10