Tag Archives: acceleration

Students love fast moving experiments, but higher speeds often require higher technology. That can challenge the budget and students' ability to use the technology. These simple, but highly accurate photogates remove both barriers. No costly computers are needed, and set up is easy. Students literally ‘get up to speed’ fast!

PurposeIn this activity, you will compare the path of a projectile launched horizontally with that of an object in free fall.Discussion
Suppose a ball bearing (BB) were launched horizontally at the same time another BB were dropped from the same height. Which one would reach the ground first?
Required Equipment
Vertical Acceleration Demonstrator, Ring Stand and Base, S [...]

When a car is on a ramp, a portion of its weight works to roll it down the ramp. Another portion works to hold it down to the ramp. These two portions, or component forces, are perpendicular to one another and can be found by using the car’s weight and the angle of the ramp.

Chapter 6 Lab #19: Students will investigate the effect that increases in mass have on an accelerating system.

Chapter 6 Lab #18:
Students will investigate the relationship between mass, force, and acceleration.

When a car is on a ramp, a portion of its weight works to roll it down the ramp. Another portion works to hold it down to the ramp. These two portions, or component forces, are perpendicular to one another and can be found by using the car’s weight and the angle of the ramp [...]

Chapter 10 Lab #34: Students will use an object on a rotating turntable to determine the relative magnitude and direction of acceleration from different positions.

Use a liquid accelerometer to observe different types of motion and classify the acceleration. Students will observe straight-line motion (constant velocity and constant acceleration), and then take their knowledge of the water’s behavior to more complex circular and pendulum motion. They will discover the centripetal (toward the center) acceleration of circular motion, and the acceleration toward equilibrium of a pendulum system.

The first experiment will use very basic equipment to measure an important quantity, the acceleration of an object in freefall. This is also known as the acceleration due to gravity, or g. The acceleration due to gravity is nearly the same at all points on the earth’s surface, 9.8 m/s2. You will compare your result to this accepted value. The second experiment will use a data-logger and photogates to measure the acceleration due to gravity. The “picket fence” has been used since photogates were developed to measure acceleration. The “pickets” block the photogate in sequence, giving a series of velocity readings. Using the velocities and the times between those velocities, the data-logger (or the student) can calculate the acceleration of the picket fence. The third experiment will use a data-logger and motion sensor (or sonic ranger) to measure the acceleration due to gravity.

Students predict and then measure, using a motion sensor, the changing position, velocity and acceleration of a simple pendulum. Graphing the motion leads to a discussion of the total force on the pendulum at different points in its motion.