PHY 101L Module Four Lab Report Gravity
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PHY 101L Module Four Lab Report Gravity
Name: Sierra Rivers
Date: 11.17.23
Complete this lab report by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information.
Overview
Gravity is the force that pulls everything on or near Earth down toward the center of the Earth. As objects fall, they tend to accelerate in response to gravity. In this investigation, you’ll explore whether the mass and the distance an object falls affect its rate of acceleration.
Safety
Read all instructions for this laboratory activity before beginning. Follow the instructions closely and observe established laboratory safety practices.
Safety goggles should be worn during this lab. The activities in this lab involve dropping spheres that accelerate and bounce. Take care while performing these lab activities to avoid injuring hands, fingers, feet, and toes with moving or falling masses. Make sure the lab area is clear of pets, children, and breakable objects.
Do not eat, drink, or chew gum while performing this activity. Wash your hands with soap and water before and after performing the activity. Clean up the work area with soap and water after completing the investigation. Keep pets and children away from lab materials and equipment.
Time Requirements
Preparation: 15 minutes
Experiment: 60 minutes
Materials Needed From the Lab Kit
Tape measure
Steel sphere
Acrylic sphere
A sphere of similar size as the steel/acrylic sphere made out of clay
Pocket scale
Materials Needed but Not Supplied in the Lab Kit
Stopwatch
Calculator
Erasable pencil or tape for height markers
Procedure
1.
Before performing this experiment, develop two scientific hypotheses: a.
First hypothesis: how mass will affect the acceleration of the sphere b.
Second hypothesis: how height will affect the acceleration of the sphere
2.
Document these hypotheses in your response to the first question in your gravity lab report below. Support each of these hypotheses with explanation and reasoning to support your
prediction.
3.
Use the tape measure to mark every 0.5 meters on a wall, up to 2.5 meters. This can be done with an erasable pencil mark or a small piece of tape.
4.
Select the steel sphere from your kit and measure its mass using the pocket scale. Record the sphere’s mass on the chart below.
5.
Using the stopwatch, time each fall as you drop the steel sphere from each of the measured marks, starting at 0.5 m and ending at 2.5 m. For each drop, start the timer upon releasing the sphere. Stop the timer when the sphere hits the ground. Record each fall time on the chart below. Repeat this process two more times for a total of three times at each drop height. Calculate the average fall time for each drop height. 6.
Repeat the procedures described in Steps 4 and 5 for the acrylic and clay spheres.
7.
Create a graph of height versus average time for your data. Represent time on the x
-axis (the horizontal line) and height on the y
-axis (the vertical line).
8.
For each of the heights, calculate the acceleration of the sphere using the average fall time. The following formula may be helpful, but you’re welcome to use different physics principles if preferred:
Height = initial velocity x time + ½ acceleration x time
2
Note that in this experiment, initial velocity is zero, because the sphere is dropped from rest. If we use an initial velocity = 0 and solve for acceleration in terms of height and time, we get:
Acceleration = (2 x height)/ time
2
9.
Create a graph of acceleration (using the data collected from the height of 2.0 meters for each sphere) and the masses for each of the three spheres. Mass should be represented on the x
-axis (the horizontal line) and acceleration should be represented on the y
-axis (the vertical line).
Data for the steel sphere: Mass = 67.4
NOTE: My walls are a bit smaller than average in my apartment and do not reach 2.5m…
Table 1
Height (m)
Time (s)
Time (s)
Time(s)
Avg Time (s)
Calculated Acceleration (m/s/s)
0.5
.29
.31
.30
.3
5.56
1.0
.48
.43
.42
.443
5.56
1.5
.53
.60
.59
.573
4.57
2.0
.73
.68
.65
.687
4.23
2.5
[Insert text.]
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[Insert text.]
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Steel Sphere
Time
Height
Data for the acrylic sphere: Mass = 10.0 NOTE: My walls are a bit smaller than average in my apartment and do not reach 2.5m…
Table 2
Height (m)
Time (s)
Time (s)
Time(s)
Avg Time (s)
Calculated Acceleration (m/s/s)
0.5
.28
.26
.28
.273
6.71
1.0
.44
.46
.41
.437
5.24
1.5
.55
.56
.50
.537
5.20
2.0
.53
.53
.55
.537
6.94
2.5
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0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Acrylic Sphere
Time
Height
Data for the clay sphere: Mass = 14.2
Table 3
Height (m)
Time (s)
Time (s)
Time(s)
Avg Time (s)
Calculated Acceleration (m/s/s)
0.5
.31
.29
.29
.297
5/67
1.0
.45
.43
.40
.427
5.49
1.5
.56
.59
.60
.583
4.41
2.0
.66
.69
.63
.66
4.59
2.5
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[Insert text.]
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Clay Sphere
Time
Height
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Acceleration
Mass
Acceleration
Lab Questions
1.
Before performing the experiment, develop two scientific hypotheses about 1) how mass will affect the acceleration of the sphere, and 2) how height will affect the acceleration of the sphere. Be sure to explain your reasoning for each.
a.
Mass will cause the sphere to accelerate at a faster rate due to the weight and force of gravity. As the mass of an object increases, its acceleration decreases. b.
Height will affect the acceleration of the sphere due to gravity decreasing as height increases. Acceleration due to gravity is inversely proportional to the height above the Earth’s surface. Gravity is significantly less on high mountains or tall buildings and increases as we lose height.
10.
Once the experiment is complete, address if your initial hypothesis was correct. Do this for each of the two hypotheses that you have written above. Support your argument with data you collected from the lab.
In the beginning of this experiment, I believed that the mass affected the acceleration rate of the
object when falling. However, if two objects are dropped from the same height, the mass of both
objects does not necessarily have an effect. If dropped from the same height, all objects should fall at the same rate. For instance, my steel ball and my acrylic ball have similar times of .28sec and .29sec at the same height of 0.5m.
This data supports the second hypothesis.
11.
In what way does acceleration vary with mass and height? Does this make sense relative to what you understand about the way gravity works? Why or why not?
According to Newton’s second law of motion, acceleration is directly related to net force and
inversely related to mass. This means that increasing the force acting on an object increases its acceleration, and the mass of an object decreases its acceleration. This makes sense as comparing a bowling ball rolling downhill next to a tennis ball, the bowling ball would roll faster due to its increased mass. However, if they are rolling straight across and are both given a small amount of force to move forward, the tennis ball would reign champion. If both balls were to be dropped from the same exact height, both balls would drop at the same rate and hit the ground at the same time.
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