First Law Exploration

Purpose

To be able to describe the motion of an object with only balanced forces on it.

Materials

• Air puck
• Ruler                
• Stopwatches (5) or stopwatch with multiple lap function.

Procedure

1. Slide the air puck across the floor and describe how it moves.
2. Mark off 5 meters on the floor with tape. Slide the air puck past them stopping a watch or lapping it at each mark. This must be done with the same trial, as it is too difficult to slide at the same speed between trials.

Data and Observations

Description of pucks motion:

Analysis

1. Make a graph of Position vs. Time.
2. Describe the graph.
3. Do you think all of the forces on the puck were really balanced? Explain.