Acceleration Lab. We believe that by using a ramp and a marble that we will be able to prove that acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s.

Dependent Variable: How long it takes the marble to get to the end of the ramp

Controlled Variable: acceleration due to gravity

Aspect 2

Height of the ramp

The height of the ramp can be changed which will affect how long it takes for the marble to reach the end of the ramp.

Time for the object to get to the end of the ramp

We will use 3 different starting points for the marble and do three trials for each starting point.

Acceleration due to gravity

Acceleration to gravity should remain constant.

Aspect 3

Materials

1. Ramp
2. Stop Watch
3. Painters Tape
4. Marble
5. Meter Stick
6. Blocks

Diagram

        

                                                

        

Method

1. Set up the apparatus as shown in the diagram, using 5 blocks.
2. Mark 3 points on the ramp in equal segments ( 5 m apart , 10 m apart , etc.)
3. Measure the angle where the two pieces of the ramp meet. Record it.
4. Time how long it takes the marble to get from one point to the end of the ramp.
5. Repeat step 3 three times but at each of the points.
6. Record the data each time and calculate the average for each time for each set of trials for a certain point.

Data Collection and Processing

Aspect 1

 Theta-58º

Aspect 2

 The relationship between the time and distance seem to be non-linear; there is some type of relationship between these two.

Aspect 3

Analysis of the data

Distance the marble rolls = d

Motion in one direction in a formula is:

the distance the object moves,  is the initial velocity,   is the constant acceleration, and    is the elapsed time, If the object starts from rest then .

Formula for solving for   :

Solving for each of the positions:

Conclusion and Evaluation

Aspect 1

The aim of this experiment was to prove that acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s by using a ramp and a marble. I predicted that this would be true because gravity and the marble are to masses and the gravity would pull the marble to the ground. My graph showed that the relationship between the distance and time were non-linear but I didn’t know how to relate this to acceleration due to gravity. I used an acceleration formula for each of the positions of the marble. My results from position 1 and position 3 were the same.

Aspect 2

The ramp was an overall good apparatus to use for this experiment, although some things were not taken into account that should have been.

1. Our measurements for the meter stick are not very accurate because we used two different meter sticks. ( we started and stopped)
2. We had trouble timing when the marble stopped correctly, we originally had 5 trials but only selected three this is random era and cause uncertainties in our data.

Aspect 3

The investigation could have given more accurate results if the following modifications were made in the future:

1. We could have measured the angle where the two parts of the ramp meet to be more accurate the second time we started the experiment.
2. Timing issues related to human reaction could have been avoided if we used a type of computer software to track the acceleration of each position.