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Lab 1S Report

Lab 1S Report

Acceleration Down a Ramp



The last full lab we did this summer at Barnes and Noble was to roll a wheel-and-axle device down the handicap access ramp of the B&N cafe. The wheel-and-axle was made up of a straw (the axle) connecting drink lids (the wheels). It was rolled down varying distances as measured in book lengths (we used Coletta) and timed for each distance. To increase statistical accuracy, four timers were used so that we had four readings of the time for each trial. (Exception: timer 4 was not able to get a reading in the 2-book run.)

Here is the data we took:

Distance
(book lengths)
Time (sec)
Trial 1
Time (sec)
Trial 2
Time (sec)
Trial 3
Time (sec)
Trial 4
Average
Time (sec)
Average Time
squared (sec2)
1 1.14 1.06 1.30 1.03 ____ ____
2 1.75 1.47 1.28 - - ____ ____
3 1.67 1.56 1.73 1.94 ____ ____
4 2.52 2.41 2.12 2.25 ____ ____
5 2.30 2.50 2.51 2.68 ____ ____
6 3.04 2.85 2.76 2.78 ____ ____
7 3.04 2.96 3.21 3.06 ____ ____
8 3.28 3.28 3.16 3.13 ____ ____
9 3.19 3.28 3.51 3.47 ____ ____
10 3.54 3.40 3.60 3.63 ____ ____


Here is what you are expected to do:

  1. Make a cover page which has the title of the lab, your name, the date of the lab, and a diagram of the lab set-up (including the wheel-and-axle) with labels.
  2. Calculate Average Time and Average Time Squared for each row and fill in the blanks in the table
  3. Graph Distance vs Average Time, making sure you
    • mark the axes evenly and label them (Average Time on the horizontal axis)
    • at first, plot only the data points (points -- NOT bars!) without any connecting lines
    • include (0,0)
    • draw the best-fit curve on your graph
    • determine how good the fit is (find the correlation coefficient if you are able)
  4. Graph Distance vs Average Time Squared, making sure you
    • mark the axes evenly and label them (Average Time Squared on the horizontal axis)
    • at first, plot only the data points (points -- NOT bars!) without any connecting lines
    • include (0,0)
    • draw the best-fit line on your graph
    • determine how good the fit is (find the correlation coefficient if you are able)
  5. Find the slope of the graph line in books/sec2. How does this relate to the average acceleration of the wheel-and-axle down the ramp?
  6. Error Analysis: Determine how accurate this lab was. Say why.
  7. Describe, within the limits of accuracy of this lab, whether our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the wheel-and-axle accelerates uniformly.

Please e-mail all answers to Mr. Cecire at cecirek@yahoo.com
Due Date: Sept 11, 2000

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