FREE FALL ACCELERATION AND ERROR ANALYSIS.

OBJECTIVES
In this experiment you will:
 Determine the value of the acceleration of a freely falling
object.
 Compare your value with the accepted value for this quantity
 Learn how to describe and account for variation in a set of
measurements
 Learn how to describe a range of experimental values

MATERIALS
Photogate, picket-fence, ring stand, right angle clamp, foam cushion,
ULI, Logger Pro software

PROCEDURE
1. Mount the photogate on the ring stand as shown in the diagram. Connect to DG1 on the ULI.
2. Boot up computer and double click the Logger Pro icon on the desk top. Navigate menus to open the
file “Physics With Computers”, “Experiment 5”.
3. Click the “View” menu at the top of the window, select graph layout, and change graph view to “One
Pane”. After clicking OK, only the distance-time graph should be visible.
4. Check to see if the sensor is working by passing your hand through the gate. The gate status is indicated
below the graph. It should indicate that Gate 1 is blocked or unblocked. If it is not working, check to
make sure that the sliding door in front of the photogate sensor is open.
5. Place the cushion underneath the photogate to cushion the fall of the picket-fence.
6. Hold the picket fence vertically just above the photogate, start collecting data, and release the picket
fence. Eight data points should appear on your graph. These correspond to the times when the leading
edge of the black rectangles on the picket fence blocked the photogate.
7. Select the icon marked “f(x)” to perform a curve fit. Think about what type of mathematical
relationship should describe the distance-time graph for constant acceleration and select that option in
the curve fit window. Click “Try Fit”, then click “OK” if the curve adequately fits your data.
8. Re-write the equation describing the curve (y=A + Bx + Cx^2) in terms of the physical variables. What do
each of the coefficients represent? How do you expect that each of these coefficients would change if
you dropped the picket fence from a higher or lower point?
9. Use the appropriate coefficient(s) to determine a value of the free fall acceleration for this trial. Record
this value in the data table keeping all decimal places.
10. Perform at least 30 trials.
PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF DATA
1. How might you best report a single value for the acceleration due to gravity based on your results?
Perform the necessary calculation.
2. There is no such thing as an “exact” measurement. Estimate the amount of uncertainty of your
experimental result. Explain how you arrived at your estimate.
3. How many significant digits should you report for your result? State your final result with the correct
number of significant digits along with the estimated uncertainty.
4. How does your experimental value compare to the accepted value for the acceleration due to gravity
(which is 9.801 m/s2 at our location). Determine the percent difference between your result and the
accepted value.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTY

The uncertainty in an experimental value is due to two different types of experimental error: random error, and
systematic error. It is relatively easy to estimate the amount of uncertainty associated with random errors by
performing multiple trials and making a statistical analysis of your results.

1. Open an EXCEL (or OpenOffice Calc) spread sheet and enter the following column headers:

2. Enter the results of your individual trials in column A.

3. Select cell E2 and enter the formula:

4. Re-name this cell ‘xbar’. First select the cell. Then click where it says E2 in the upper left hand corner of the
EXCEL window. Type ‘xbar’ and hit enter.
5. Select cell B2 and enter the formula:

6. Select cell B2, then click and drag the ‘handle’ in the bottom right hand corner of the cell to perform this
calculation on each of your results.
7. Select cell C2 and enter the formula:

8. Click and drag to perform this calculation on each of your results.

9. The un-biased sample variance of a set of measurements is computed with the formula:
n

∑ ( xi −x́)2
s2= i=1
n−1

where n is the number of measurements. Select cell F2 and calculate the sample variance by entering the
formula(if your number of trials is different than 30 change the numbers in the formula accordingly):

Rename cell F2 ‘var’

10. The sample standard deviation is the square root of the variance. Select cell G2 and calculate the sample

standard deviation by entering the formula:

11. The standard error of the mean is computed by dividing the sample standard deviation by the square root of
the number of trials. Enter the appropriate formula to calculate the standard error of the mean in cell H2.
12. Everything we have done here can be done automatically by EXCEL if the Analysis ToolPak add in is installed.
Click on the Data tab at the top of the screen. If the toolpak is installed Data Analysis will be one of
the options on the toolbar. Click on it, then select Descriptive Statistics. Select your data,
choose Summary Statistics, and a place to output the results. Compare the mean, variance, sample
standard deviation, and standard error of the mean. They should correspond to your own calculated
results. (If it is not installed, click on the Microsoft Office logo in the upper left hand corner, chose Excel
Options, then navigate to Add-ins.)

What does it all mean? For a set of ‘normally distributed data’ roughly 2/3 of measurements should fall within
one standard deviation of the mean. Roughly speaking, the standard deviation is the uncertainty you would
expect from making a SINGLE measurement. Because multiple measurements were taken the amount of
uncertainty is smaller. The standard error of the mean is the uncertainty that you want to report. If the study
you performed was replicated with the same number of trials you would expect the result to fall within one
standard error about 2/3 of the time (of course this means that there is roughly a 33% chance that the result
would differ from yours by an amount larger than the standard error). Often, a 95% confidence level is chosen
to report the uncertainty. This corresponds to an uncertainty approximately double the standard error.

LAB QUESTIONS

1. Was your group’s result within one standard error of the accepted value for the acceleration due to gravity?
Within two standard errors?
2. Approximately what percentage of your measurements fall within one standard deviation of the mean? Is
this consistent with what we expect?
3. Find the standard deviation, and the standard error using the entire classes data (N=300). Discuss how the
values compare to the values you found using a smaller data set.
4. Approximately what percentage of the classes “best values” fall within one standard error of your best
value? Is this consistent with what we expect?
5. The statistical methods discussed in this lab are effective in quantifying the amount of uncertainty
associated with random errors. However, they do not address the issue of systematic error. Identify one or
more possible sources of systematic error for this investigation. Explain whether these sources of error
would shift your measured value of g downward or upward.
6. How would you estimate the size of the systematic error(s) you identified in the previous question? Do you
think it is comparable in size to the random error for this activity?
7. Increasing the number of trials will reduce the amount of random error in your final result but will do
nothing about the amount of systematic error. How can scientists feel confident that they have correctly
accounted for the systematic effects of their experimental technique?