I.

II.

III.

Objective: The objective of this experiment was to determine the acceleration of a faling
object object due to the gravity.
Theory
You can determen the instantaneous velocity of an falling object by deveding distance by
by time.
By taking the slop of the Instantaneous velocity by the time you can determen the slop
which is same as the gravity.
Formulas:
Instantaneous velocity (avg) = Xn Xn-1
tn tn1

% Error = Experimental Theoretical x 100

Theoretical

IV.

V.

Equipment
Meter Stick
Free Fall Apparatus
Timer
Procedure
Adjust the knob of the power supply so that it is fully clockwise
Lose the tap key in order to energize the electro-magnet
Place the object that is to fall with the pointed tip facing downwards where it will attach
itself to the electro-magnet. It is important that the body that is to be release must be
initially motionless. It can be steadied by, carefully, touching it with your hand.
Have one of your partners turn the Spark Time power switch to ON and the rate to 10
sparks /second. It is important at this point not to touch the Spark Timer wires. The Spark
Timer releases a spark of some 15000 volt and under the right condition it can prove to be
hazardous to your health. With the Spark Timer switch ON, sparks will be observed to
move from the outer wire through the center ring of the body to the inner wire leaving
local burnt marks on the tape.
Open the tap key, thus, de-energizing the electro-magnet and allowing the body to fall. As
the body descends local burnet marks at every 1/10 of a second will be left on the tape.
When the body has reached the dash pot turn the Spark Timer and power switches OFF
Remove the tap by pulling it over the top of the apparatus until you have all the dots on it.
Tear this odd and attach the clip on the rest to the rest of the tape, so that the apparatus
will be ready for the next group.
Lay the tape on your table and circle every dot including the very first dot, with the meter
stick measure the total distance from the first dot to every circle dot (x1, x2, x3 etc.) and
record in your data sheet in (column 2)

VI.

Data
n
0

xn (m)
0

2/60

0.031

4/60

0.072

6/60

0.124

8/60

0.188

5
6
7

10/60
12/60
14/60

tn - tn-1 (s)

xn - xn-1(m)

vn (m/s)

vn (ave) (m/s)

tn1 (s)

2/60

0.031

0.93

0.93

1/60

2/60

0.041

1.23

1.23

3/60

2/60

0.056

1.56

1.56

5/60

2/60

0.064

1.92

1.92

7/60

2/60

0.074

2.16

2.16

9/60

2/60

0.084

2.52

2.52

11/60

2/60

0.090

2.88

2.88

13/60

2/60

0.106

3.18

3.18

15/60

2/60

0.118

3.54

3.54

17/60

2/60

0.128

3.84

3.84

19/60

0.262
0.346
0.442

16/60

0.548

18/60

0.666

10

20/60

0.794

VII.

tn (s)
0

Key
n = number of integrals
tn = time occurred
xn = position of each integral
tn tn-1 = time of each integral
xn xn-1 = distance of each integral tn = time that velocity occurs
vn (ave) = avg. instantaneous velocity
vn = instantaneous velocity
Calculation
Instantaneous velocity (avg) = Xn Xn-1
tn tn1
slope of v vs t graph = 3.54 2.16 = 10.35m/s2
17/60 9/60
Error = Measured value standard value
= 10.35 9.8
= 0.55
% Error = Error
x 100

Standard

VIII.

= 0.55 x 100 = 5.6%

9.8

Conclusion: person not two to limit human error. The acceleration due to gravity was
calculated to be 10.35 m/s2 with a % error of 5.6%. This proves that our results were mostly
accurate.

Experiment 5
Motion of a Free Falling
Object
By: Athena Thomas
Partners:
Athena Thomas
Asim Alam
Gurjit Jaswal
Scott Eberhardt