This experiment is designed to see if vertical height has anything to do with the speed of a moving vehicle as it rolls down a ramp.

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Physics Coursework.

Natalie Onions

Joseph Whitaker School.

Plan:

This experiment is designed to see if vertical height has anything to do with the speed of a moving vehicle as it rolls down a ramp. We will put a trolley at the top of a ramp and let go. We will start a stopwatch when it reaches the bottom of the ramp and stop it when the trolley has travelled 2 metres. We will experiment with a variety of different heights to obtain better understanding of our results. I think that this is a very easy and efficient way of doing the experiment, as it doesn’t require a lot of space or equipment but it will give us results that will be easy to read and spot a pattern in.

 Diagram:

 Equipment: 

Ramp (To roll trolley down)

Trolley (Our “Vehicle”)

Metre stick (To measure our distances and heights correctly)

Stopwatch (To obtain correct times for travelling the 2M distance)

Scales (Weigh our trolley)

Safety:

This experiment can be quite dangerous. To prevent accident or injury whilst doing it, we will make sure that we perform the experiment in a clear space, away from other people so that our trolley does not go anywhere near them. Also, if our trolley does move a little too far, we will make sure that we retrieve it immediately to prevent anyone stepping on it and falling. We will also be careful when using the ramp, as it is heavy and has rigid edges.

 Prediction:

I predict that the steeper our ramp is, the faster the trolley will travel. I think this because the higher the top of the ramp is, the greater the amount of Gravitational Potential Energy. (GPE). This will therefore result in more movement energy, or kinetic energy allowing the trolley to travel more quickly over a distance. The mass of our trolley will also be a dependant factor, as GPE=Mass X Gravity X Vertical height. I have obtained this information from work that I have done in class. Another equation that I have come to learn through class work is the relationship between Kinetic energy and Gravitational Potential Energy, in that the amount of GPE an object has at its highest point is equal to the amount of kinetic energy when it reaches the lowest point, in this case, the ground. Therefore, the higher the starting point of the trolley, the further and faster it will travel due to the amount of kinetic/movement energy.

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 Preliminary Work:

To aid our experiment, we have undertaken a series of preliminary steps. Firstly we chose the maximum and minimum heights of our ramp. If the ramp was too high, the trolley would hit the floor too hard, resulting on a drop in speed. If the ramp was too low, the trolley would not move. We also chose a mid height and 2 heights in between our extremes. We then performed the experiment on these heights to see if they were indeed suitable for the experiment. These were our results:

Max: 87.7cm = 0.74secs

Quarter 1: 75cm ...

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