B) I think if the radius is shorter, then the speed will be faster and when the radius is longer, then the speed will be slower. I think this because the closer to the center, the less distance or circumference the object has to cover.
Procedure A:
1) Get an object.
2) Tie one end of the string to the object.
3) Take the end of the string that doesn’t have anything attached to it.
4) Start moving your hand in a circular motion and make the object spin.
5) Keep the object spinning at a constant force or speed.
6) Let go of the string and observe what happens.
Procedure B:
1) Do steps 1 – 5 in procedure A.
2) As the object comes around, place your finger half way of the radius.
3) Let the object spin around your finger.
4) Observe if the speed, after you put your finger, is the same, faster or slower than the speed when you were just spinning the object without you r. (no finger)
5) Record the Data.
Data/ Analysis
The object flew off forward after the spinning.
The object spun faster when the radius of the circle was smaller.
Conclusion: In this lab we learned that when an object is moving in a circular motion, it is because of centripetal and centrifugal forces. These forces pull and push the object inward and outward. Whenever the object goes forward it is pulled or pushed by the forces away or toward the center. This forms a circular motion. When the string is let go the two forces, centripetal and centrifugal, disappear because there is no contact between the center and the object. When they disappear, the object moves forward because of inertia.
In the second part of the lab, we spun around the string at different radius’s but with the same speed. It turned out that when the radius is smaller, then the faster the object will move. The reason for this is because the smaller the radius, the less amount of distance or circumference the object will have to travel.
Before we performed the lab, I hypothesized that the object will go forward when the string is released because inertia takes over. For the second part I hypothesized that the smaller the radius, the faster it will go. I hypothesized this because the smaller the radius, the less distance the object will have to travel. This enables the object to move much faster when it is closer to the center. These hypotheses were correct.
As a final conclusion I can say that if an object is spun around and then released, then the object will fly off forward and if the radius of the object is shortened then the object will move faster, for it has less distance to cover.
