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Experiment 1 The Determination of Gravitational Acceleration

This document describes an experiment to measure gravitational acceleration using free fall. Students will drop a ball bearing from various heights and measure the time it takes to fall. They will use the data to calculate average values of g at each height and compare to the accepted value. A graph of height vs. time will be made to determine the value of gravitational acceleration from the trend line. Sources of error and ways to improve accuracy are discussed.

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Torong V
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188 views5 pages

Experiment 1 The Determination of Gravitational Acceleration

This document describes an experiment to measure gravitational acceleration using free fall. Students will drop a ball bearing from various heights and measure the time it takes to fall. They will use the data to calculate average values of g at each height and compare to the accepted value. A graph of height vs. time will be made to determine the value of gravitational acceleration from the trend line. Sources of error and ways to improve accuracy are discussed.

Uploaded by

Torong V
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Experiment 1 ~ the Determination of Gravitational

Acceleration
The first lab of the semester has three parts:

• Introduction to statistics, error and measurement, which can be found on page 5.


• The actual experiment: “The Determination of Gravitational Acceleration” where
you will learn how to evaluate measured data by averages and standard deviations
• A tutorial in how to plot data using Excel, which can be found in the Appendix.

There are questions on the last page of the Experiment that you will need to answer in your
lab report.

You will probably want to refer back to the Introduction to Statistics, Error and
Measurement, and the Excel Tutorial, later in the semester, as you work on analyzing and
graphing data from more complicated experiments.

Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the earth's gravitational acceleration from an
object in free fall. You will use the equation of motion of an object in free fall, starting from rest
(v0=0):
y(t) = yo + vot + ½ a t2
Equipment:
Ball bearing, timer, clamping post, meter stick.
Experiment Part A:
Using the apparatus shown above, drop a ball
• 10 times, from
• 4 different heights (you pick the heights)
To clamp the ball, push in the dowel pin until the ball is tightly clamped, and then tighten the
thumbscrew. To release the ball, open the thumbscrew. Be sure to reset the timer to zero before
dropping the ball! The lab instructor will show you how to do all this in detail. Be careful when
you measure the height: measure from the bottom of the ball to the pressure pad.

Collect your data at four different heights and enter the data in the tables below.
For each measured y and t, you can calculate g. Since the initial velocity v0 is zero, the initial
position is h (y0 = h), and the acceleration is –g (a = -g), you can rearrange the equation:

y(t) = yo + vot + ½ a t2
(1) (Equation 1 )
to solve for g:
g= 2h/t2 (2)

You can do this with your calculator, or put the time values into Excel, and make an equation to
solve for g at each value of t and y. For each height, calculate the mean value of gravity and time
(<g>, <t>), and the standard deviation (σ g σ t). Again, you can use Excel to do this.

Table 1: Time and Gravity Data


Height 1: h1= Height 2: h2= Height 3: h3= Height 4: h4=
t g t g t g t g

<t1> = <t2> = <t3> = <t4> =


σt = σt = σt = σt =
<g1> = <g2> = <g3> = <g4> =
σg = σg = σg = σg =
Galileo did this experiment too...
but his experimental setup was the leaning Tower of Pisa...

Analysis Part A:

You now have four mean values of g, each calculated at different height. What is the percent
error of each of the values, with respect to the accepted value of g, 9.81 m/s2?
What is the percent difference between <ghighest> and <glowest>

Experiment Part B:

Repeat the experiment above once using the maximum height you can achieve. The height
should be over 1.5 meters.

Height 5: h5=
t g

<t5> =
σt =
<g1> =
σg =
Analysis Part B:
You now have five different heights with five different average times. On the next page is an
example of a chart with height on the y axis and time on the x axis (h vs. t). Using Excel, try to
recreate this plot using your own data. Include a trend line and the polynomial equation (of order
2) for the trend line. In Appendix B you will find some helpful tutorials, if you are not familiar
with Excel.
Look carefully at the trend line equation. Excel usually shows 0 as a number near 10-14; so that
the equation can be reduced to y = 1/2ax2. What does this value of a represent? (Hint: Compare
this equation to equation 1).

Freefall  Results:  Height  vs.  Time  


1.8  

1.6  
y  =  1/2ax2  +  bx  +  c    
1.4  

1.2  
Height  (meters)  

1  

0.8  

0.6  

0.4  

0.2  

0  
0.00   0.10   0.20   0.30   0.40   0.50   0.60   0.70  
Time  (seconds)  
Questions:

1. Discuss the sources of error in the experiment. Were there sources of random error? What
were they? What about systematic error?

2. Would you expect the values of g measured at the two different heights to be the same?
Why or why not?

3. Suppose you had used a metal ball of a different mass (say, ten times heavier). Would
you expect the value of g to be the same, or different? Why?

4. For measuring the distance that the ball drops, we suggested that you measure from the
bottom of the ball to the pressure pad, in order to get the most accurate distance. Why
shouldn’t you measure from the middle of the ball to the pressure pad? Explain.

5. Which of your values for <g> was more precise? Which was more accurate? Explain.

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