We will use a three-wheeled cart on a flat and smooth table. A string is attached to the front of the cart. The other end of the string was wrapped around a smooth pulley with a wight hanger attached to the other end. When we mention the smooth surface of the table and smooth pulley, it means that there is no frictional force affecting the motion. If we add different mass on the weight hanger, we are applying a different pulling force on the cart through the string. If you are given the mass of the cart and given the magnitude of the force, you can calculate the acceleration. We will gradually add the mass on the weight hanger, so we are gradually increasing the pulling force. For each force, you can calculate the acceleration.
Newton's Second Law of Motion
Objective: The objective of this lab is to determine the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration on an object in motion.
Background: Objects acted upon by balanced forces (net force is zero) will either not move or not show a change in the amount of motion. Unbalanced forces (the net force on the object is not zero) can cause a change in motion. According to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the magnitude of net force on an object is directly related to the acceleration of an object. The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force of that object when the mass of the object is not changed. In other words, the larger the net force, the larger the acceleration on the object.
On the other hand, when we purposely keep the net force as a constant, the acceleration of the object will be inversely proportional to the mass of the object. That is to day, if the net force is a constant, the higher the mass of the object, the less the acceleration.
You can also see from the formula from Newton's second law of motion.
In this lab, we will first explore how changing the force on an object affects the acceleration of that object in the absence of friction (frictional force is zero).
The setup of the lab is as follows:
Part 1. We will use a three-wheeled cart on a flat and smooth table. A string is attached to the front of the cart. The other end of the string was wrapped around a smooth pulley with a wight hanger attached to the other end. When we mention the smooth surface of the table and smooth pulley, it means that there is no frictional force affecting the motion. If we add different mass on the weight hanger, we are applying a different pulling force on the cart through the string. If you are given the mass of the cart and given the magnitude of the force, you can calculate the acceleration. We will gradually add the mass on the weight hanger, so we are gradually increasing the pulling force. For each force, you can calculate the acceleration.
| Force (F) on the cart, Newton | Mass (m) of the Cart, kg | acceleration= | ||
| 1 | 0.5 | 1.2 | ||
| 2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | ||
| 3 | 1.5 | 1.2 | ||
| 4 | 2.0 | 1.2 | ||
| 5 | 2.5 | 1.2 | ||
| 6 | 3.0 | 1.2 |
You also need plot a graph with acceleration as y-axis and Force as the x-axis.
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