Cart Lab Report free essay sample

Hanging at a Constant Determining the effect mass has on acceleration Block 5 11/25/12 Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to determine the effect of additional mass added to a cart’s existing mass, without changing the applied force, on the acceleration of the cart. We will test this effect by hanging a constant mass to a cart and use a computer program, LoggerPro, to calculate the acceleration which is expressed through the slope of the graph. The cart’s initial mass is 500 grams which we change by adding more weights in order to see a difference in acceleration. Some basic background information needed for this experiment is first, and foremost, Newton’s Second Law of Motion stating: The acceleration (a) of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force (F) acting on the body, is in the direction of the net force, and is inversely proportional to the mass (m) of the body, i. We will write a custom essay sample on Cart Lab Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page e. , F = ma. We must also know that weight is a force, we use the weight of the cart and the hanging weight as the forces needed to determine acceleration. The bigger the mass the more force required to create the same amount of acceleration. We have to assume that the length of the track the cart traveled was long enough to accurately calculate the acceleration. Hypothesis: If the mass of the cart increases while keeping the hanging mass (applied force) constant then the acceleration of the cart will decrease because more applied force is needed to pull a heavier mass (cart). This will occur in order to follow Newton’s Second Law of Motion and the equation F=ma. Materials: -weights -a cart -motion sensor LoggerPro program Procedure: 1. Chose a constant hanging mass/applied force (200g) . Attach the hanging mass to the initial cart (without additional weights) 3. Set up Logger Pro and motion sensor 4. Press start and when it beeps let the cart go 5. Stop cart near the end so it doesn’t fall off the table 6. Calculate the slop by highlighting the linear part of the graph, (not any part where it stands still). The slope is equivelent to the acceleration 7. Add a weight to the cart and repeat steps 4-6 for 4 a dditional masses. Hanging Mass (grams)Cart Mass (grams)Acceleration (m/s^2) 2005002. 812 2006002. 369 2007002. 51 20010001. 553 20015001. 116 Data Analysis: The acceleration is directly proportional to the mass of an object. As the cart mass increases then the acceleration decreases. This follows the F=ma formula stating that the acceleration is proportional to the force/mass of an object. The graph proves that when the mass increases then the acceleration decreased because the Force was kept constant but more was needed to move a larger mass. Error Analysis: Some errors that could have occurred may have been the result of a too short track. The calculations may have been inaccurate because it was limited to only about 2 meters and a few seconds. The lack of time and distance could easily influence the calculations and made more room for human error. Also letting go of the cart at the exact time each time may have caused human error because different people were letting it go and stopping it. The starting points and ending points on the graph also may have also changed the slope (acceleration) because a few points before or after would affect it. Conclusion: My data supports my hypothesis stating that if the the mass of the cart increases then the acceleration decreases due to Newton’s law of motion stating that the larger the mass the more force is needed to reach the same acceleration. When the mass was increased from 500 grams to 1500 grams the acceleration decreased from 2. 812 to 1. 116. The experiment would be better if given extra time for recording the acceleration, that would be more accurate and hopefully have an exact linear relationship. Also taking more trials would be beneficial to the experiment to eliminate any human errors.