Determination of g by freefall
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Introduction
Name: Sarah Barendswaard Abubakr Date: 9/02/09
Teacher: Mr. Briffa Subject: Physics
Year: Y12 Task: Lab report
Determination of gravity by free fall
Introduction
In class we were given an instruction sheet where the aim, apparatus and method where given, from that we had to obtain results and process them.
Aim
To determine the value of acceleration due to gravity
Variables
Independent
Is the variable which we are changing to analyse how it changes the dependant variable; the distance of free fall
Dependant
The variable that we obtain from the results and is changed by the independent; the time taken for the ball to reach the ground
Control
Middle
This was repeated 3 times for each reading.
(x) = 12cm, 24cm, 36cm, 48cm, 60cm, 72cm.
Conclusion
There may have been a systematic error resulting from the machines used to measure the time, we cannot see this from the graph, however this systematic error could affect the position of the line by a very small amount. Even though this value is small it does affect the graphs gradient.
Improvements that we can deal with in the school lab
Obviously in the school we can not perform an experiment that is at sea level, so the position of the experiment can not really be improved however there are other improvements:
- The experiment could have been done in a vacuum to prevent air resistance ( drag ) from effecting the balls motion.
- The experiment could have been repeated with various other machines to prevent systematic error from occurring.
This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our International Baccalaureate Physics section.
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