Name: Alson Yong Class: O8 Date: 23 July

Practical Report – Acceleration of a Trolley on a Horizontal Track

1) Research Question: How does the time taken to move a fixed distance vary with driving
force?

2) Independent variable: Force exerted on the trolley, determined by the weight of the
falling mass attached to the trolley

3) Dependent variable: Time taken to travel a fixed distance, measured using a stopwatch
and observing the trolley move from the start to the end point.

4) Controlled variables:
a. Angle of the slope - Monitored using a spirit level and adjusted to be horizontal
before each reading is taken.
b. Friction between trolley and track - Use the same portion of the track for all
readings.
c. Distance traveled by the trolley - Use the attached metre rule to determine the
same start and end point for all readings.
d. Mass of trolley - Use the same trolley for all readings.

5) Diagram:
(Attach your sketch here)

6) Data:

T average

125

100

75

50

25

0
0 0.325 0.65 0.975 1.3 1.625
 Mass of Recorded Recorded Average
trolley time 1 time 2
50g 1.24 1.26 1.25
55g 1.38 1.20 1.29
60g 1.35 1.01 1.18
65g 1.10 1.22 1.16
70g 1.20 1.00 1.10
75g 1.21 1.02 1.11
80g 0.92 1.05 0.98
85g 1.07 0.93 1.00
90g 0.85 0.94 0.89
95g 1.20 0.77 0.98
100g 0.86 0.86 0.86
(Attach your table here)

7) Result:
(Attach your graph here)

Question:
a) Calculate the mass of the trolley using your graph.

b)

b) Using your answer in (a), calculate the percentage difference in mass with respect to the
actual mass of trolley.
c)