physics I-2 lab report

Brenden Strom Physics 1251 10/4/2023 Does a ball rolling on an incline have the same acceleration on the way up as it does on the way down? Section 1: During this investigation we were trying to determine an answer to the guiding question, “Does a ball rolling on an incline have the same acceleration on the way up as it does on the way down”? To figure this out we must find Position vs time and how they relate to velocity. Then we must determine how velocity vs time is related to acceleration. The relation between position vs velocity is that velocity is the rate of change of position over time. This means that the speed and direction of an object's motion depend on how its position changes over time. The relation between acceleration and velocity is that acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. The formula for acceleration = (change in velocity) / (change in time). This formula tells us that the greater the change in velocity, the greater the acceleration. To find the acceleration we used a linear regression equation which is (v=v 0 +at), where v=velocity, t=time, v 0 =initial velocity and a=acceleration. We used a linear regression to determine the y- intercept, and slope from our data points. Calculating the best estimate for the acceleration was done by taking the averages of all the accelerations we collected. This is a good tool to use because it is used to see the best average overall without having to go through all the data. These scientific concepts are related to the guiding question because without finding velocity and acceleration you won’t be able to find out the results. The goal of this investigation is to find out if the acceleration is the same going up an incline, then back down the incline.

Section 2: We completed this investigation by using an online tracking software, webcam, and video conversion app available to us from the lab to help us find answers. The data collected from this investigation was distance, position, time, velocity, and acceleration. We used the formula (v=dx/dt) to find the velocity and (a=dv/dt) to find the acceleration in this investigation. We used a marble for the object to track, and a meter stick for our reference object. We measured the meter stick to get a calibration length (distance), which is just two points from which we are measuring from. We did a flat angle test first and then a raised angle test to see the difference between them. We chose to do these tests because rolling a ball on a level surface vs an angled surface is easier to see the difference than rolling a ball down two different angles. The online tracking software and conversion app helped us see the position/time by plotting the center point of the marble till it reached the end. We reduced errors and uncertainty by only using the videos where the ball went up and down in a straight line, so we didn’t have any mess ups from it moving around. We also reduced error by making sure the video is tracking the same length for each try, and making sure to click the center of the marble each frame. Some of the systematic errors could be computer malfunctions, video mess ups, and point of mass error. We used the data to determine if the two angles had the same acceleration on the marble by looking at the numbers and deciding which numbers were higher or lower, or if it was similar and we could say that they did have the same acceleration for both tests. Section 3: Our claim to this investigation was that the marble did not have the same acceleration going uphill as it did going downhill. When the marble was rolling downhill it was picking up more acceleration than it was going uphill. Our acceleration for the flat angle test was -0.021cm/s 2 ±0.016m/s 2 , and for the incline test it was 0.187m/s 2 ±0.007m/s 2 . The data is reasonable because this shows that having the

Graphs and tables 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Postition vs. Time (incline) mass_A Time (s) Position (cm) 0.00E+00 5.00E-01 1.00E+001.50E+002.00E+00 0.00E+00 5.00E-02 1.00E-01 1.50E-01 2.00E-01 2.50E-01 3.00E-01 3.50E-01 4.00E-01 4.50E-01 5.00E-01 Velocity vs. Time (incline) Time (s) Velocity (cm) 0.00E+001.00E+002.00E+003.00E+004.00E+00 -1.00E-01 0.00E+00 1.00E-01 2.00E-01 3.00E-01 4.00E-01 5.00E-01 Position Vs. Time (flat) Time (s) Position (cm) 0.00E+001.00E+002.00E+003.00E+004.00E+00 0.00E+00 5.00E-02 1.00E-01 1.50E-01 2.00E-01 2.50E-01 3.00E-01 3.50E-01 4.00E-01 4.50E-01 5.00E-01 Velocity vs. Time Time (s) Velocity (cm)