distance travelled by a car at different heights of a ramp.

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Experiment to investigate the distance travelled by a car at different heights of a ramp.

In this experiment I am going to investigate whether the gravitational potential energy effects on the speed of my toy automobile or not.

My variable factor is the height of my ramp.

Prediction:

I think as the ramp gets higher, the speed of my automobile increases, and it also travels a further distance.

That’s because the gravitational potential energy pulls every thing towards itself, and in here as the toy automobile gets further away, the gravitational potential puts more energy to pull the car, that’s why the car goes faster.

Apparatus list:

  • A ramp.
  • A ruler. (up to 2metres)
  • A plastic automobile.
  • A stopwatch.
  • 10 woodblocks

Method:

  • Set up a ramp at the height of 1 cm (1 wood block) of the ground and in a specific area that you will keep the same and put a ruler at the end of ramp on the floor (extended to the ramp)
  • Put the car at the top of ramp at a specific point that I will keep the same.
  • Then allow the car to roll down the ramp and along the floor till it stops.
  • Measure the distance between the end of ramp and the back of car (the stopping distance).
  • Repeat the experiment for 4 times.
  • Record the results each time.
  • Add 1 more wood block and do the same experiment for 4 times again.
  • Each time add a wood block to increase the height of ramp till you get up to 10 wood blocks.
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* USE THE SAME CAR EACH TIME TO HAVE A FAIR TEST.

 

There are some factors that I kept the same. In order to keep the experiment fair:

  • The plastic car.(because the variety in cars might effect the distance it travels.)
  • The same point on the ramp to start the car rolling down .
  • The same area to do the experiment.(because the ups and downs on the surface of the ground might increase its friction therefore the speed would decrease.)
  • The same ramp each time.

Pre-test:

I have used a science experiment CD Rom to ...

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