Acceleration of a Cart on a Ramp
Content
Thomas Yee
5 March 2014
Acceleration of a Cart on a Ramp
Problem: Find the acceleration of a cart moving down a ramp
Hypothesis: We predicted that the displacement between the dots created by
the ticker timer will increase as the car accelerates.
Materials: Two physics text books, ticker timer, power source, ramp, cables,
tape, ticker tape
Conclusion: My hypothesis is supported because the data shows that the
velocity increases as the time increases. The cart reaches a maximum
velocity of 72cm/s in 0.8 seconds. The data shows that there was a problem
with our experiment since at 0.2 and 0.3 seconds, they both have a velocity
of 38cm/s. There is also a problem at 0.4-0.5 seconds since the velocity only
increased by 1cm. These errors caused our acceleration to be below average
compared to what it was supposed to be.
Errors:
Systematic – The ticker tape created friction which caused the cart to
maintain the same velocity.
Parallax – The dots might have been measured wrong due to how the person
was looking at it.
Questions:
1. When the angle is doubled, the rate is also doubled. The acceleration
of the cart at an angle of 20 degrees would be 112cm/s².
2. For 80 degrees the acceleration would 448cm/s², and for 90 degrees the
acceleration would be 504cm/s².
5 March 2014
Acceleration of a Cart on a Ramp
Problem: Find the acceleration of a cart moving down a ramp
Hypothesis: We predicted that the displacement between the dots created by
the ticker timer will increase as the car accelerates.
Materials: Two physics text books, ticker timer, power source, ramp, cables,
tape, ticker tape
Conclusion: My hypothesis is supported because the data shows that the
velocity increases as the time increases. The cart reaches a maximum
velocity of 72cm/s in 0.8 seconds. The data shows that there was a problem
with our experiment since at 0.2 and 0.3 seconds, they both have a velocity
of 38cm/s. There is also a problem at 0.4-0.5 seconds since the velocity only
increased by 1cm. These errors caused our acceleration to be below average
compared to what it was supposed to be.
Errors:
Systematic – The ticker tape created friction which caused the cart to
maintain the same velocity.
Parallax – The dots might have been measured wrong due to how the person
was looking at it.
Questions:
1. When the angle is doubled, the rate is also doubled. The acceleration
of the cart at an angle of 20 degrees would be 112cm/s².
2. For 80 degrees the acceleration would 448cm/s², and for 90 degrees the
acceleration would be 504cm/s².
