Justin Geeslin

Eng Physics I - M 1:00

Experiment Three – Modern Galileo Experiment

1. Introduction

This experiment attempts to explain and demonstrated the concept of uniform acceleration. Uniform acceleration suggests that gravity accelerates all objects at a constant rate regardless of any properties the object it self might have. More specifically this experiment clearly demonstrates that an object regardless of size will be accelerated because of gravity at the same rate when placed on an incline.

2. Procedure

First, set up the incline with the motion detector at the higher end. Place the ball that will be released down the incline about .4 meters away from the motion detector. Ensure that the computer is running Logger Pro. Once the ball is ready to be released, click the Collect button. Soon after, you will hear a clicking sound coming from the motion detector. Once the sound is heard, release the ball immediately. Once the ball’s path down the incline is complete two graphs should appear on the screen. The graphs should increase proportional to each other. As time increases velocity should increase. Choose a position interval from which to record your data. From this interval, the position (data point), time, speed, and change in speed must all be recorded. The change in speed is calculated by finding a difference between the speed at one point and the speed at the previous point. Data should be as follows:

Data Point (m)	Time (s)	Speed (m/s)		Change in Speed
0.478	0.6	0.3028		-
0.542	0.8	0.3812		0.0784
0.632	1	0.634		0.2528
0.752	1.2	0.752		0.118
0.895	1.4	0.895		0.143
1.063	1.6	1.06		0.165
1.256	1.8	1.026		0.034
Slope of v-t graph	.63
Avg. Acceleration	0.6 m/s

Questions

2. Galileo’s definition is true to a certain point. The speed does increase at a set acceleration. However, that increase in speed is not always proportional to the amount of time. The speed of a falling object will only accelerate to a certain maximum speed.

3. By looking at the graphs, it is easy to see that the graphs ascend proportionally, however, by viewing the change in speed within the selected interval, we can see that the change in speed is not constant and is not ascending. Therefore, an object will only accelerate to a certain speed. Gravity will not infinitely accelerate an object to an infinite speed.

4. V_i = 0.3028 - V_f = 1.026 – T_i = 0.6 – T_f = 1.8 | V_{f -} V_i / T_{f -} T_i | a_avg = .6

6) The v-t graph does have a constant slope which means that the object is accelerating at a set rate. The units are m/s/s which is m/s².