Purpose
In this lab, we determined the distance of a ball landing on a flat surface to help us predict where the ball would land on an inclined surface.
Procedure + Equipment
What we used:- v-channels
- the v-channel is a ramp shaped in a v, that allowed the ball to travel in a direct route
- ring stand + clamp
- the clamp holds the ring stand in place, so the v-channel can be inclined at an angle
- steel ball
- a steel ball is used to provide for a more accurate reading on the carbon paper
- carbon paper
- the carbon paper marked where the ball would land, allowing for the distance to be measured
- wooden ramp
- this is for the second part of the experiment where we have to predict where on the ramp the ball will land
- weights
- to hold the wooden ramp in place
- we set up one v-channel at an incline connecting to another v-channel on a horizontal, this allowed the ball to travel in a direct route
- carbon paper was placed in the general area where the ball landed
- we placed the steel ball at the top again and let go
- we measured the distance the ball traveled
- we repeated steps 3 and 4 for a total of 5 trials
- we measured the height from where the ball was launched
- after this, through some calculations, we predicted where the ball would land if there was a ramp at the bottom
- part 2 was to do the experiment and see where the ball would land on the ramp.
- we did the same as part 1 and did this for 5 trials
This is the set up for where the ball in launched from |
Data
Part 1
This is the the distance the ball traveled when it landed on a flat surface |
This is the distance the ball traveled when it landed on a ramp. This data was collected after we calculated where the ball would land. |
Calculations + Analysis
Part 1: This is how we calculated Vo, which came out to be 1.59 m/s |
We were able to calculate a Vo to be 1.59 m/s from the data we collected. Given this Vo, we were then able to calculate where the ball would land when a ramp was placed at the bottom.
Part 2: This is how we calculated the distance (d) the ball traveled when it fell on the ramp. |
We calculated that the ball would fall at 0.9072 m, but what we found was that on average the ball fell at 0.7636 m. Comparing these two value values, we find that the difference is a 19.42% error. This means that our experiment had some errors. There were some human errors in measuring the distance the ball fell. Another source of error could be from the set up, we had trouble with the v-channels shifting a bit during the experiments because they were not stable, and this could have affected the angle from where the ball was launched.
Summary
In this lab, we had to find an initial Vo for a ball in projectile motion and then calculate where the ball would land if there was a ramp at the bottom. We did the experiment and compared our theoretical value and our actual values and found our error was about 20%.
Usually error is around 2%.
ReplyDeleteWhat value did you use for theta?