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    Physics Investigation: The effect of speed on braking distance

    Extracts from this document...

    Introduction

    Physics Investigation:

    The effect of speed on braking distance

    Hashim Al-Hasani 11R

    Intro

    Speed is the travelled distance for every moment/unit of a set time. Speed, distance and time are all related with each other, shown in the following equation, which can be rearranged to find the formula of each measurement:

    Speed (m/s) = Distance (m) ÷ Time(s)

    The braking distance of an object is the distance it takes to slow the object down, until it is has stopped (stationary). The object will only become stationary when the driving force is being counter-forced, for example friction and air resistance.

    The kinetic energy of an object is the energy it gains due to its motion. The equation for kinetic energy is: image21.png

     What factors can affect the braking distance of an object?

    Well there are 3 main factors that affect the braking distance of an object:

    The height from which the object is released

    This can affect the braking distance as the higher the object is when it is released, the greater it’s original GPE. As the object continues downwards, its GPE decreases, and its kinetic energy increases by the same amount of gravitation potential energy lost.

    ...read more.

    Middle

    450

    50m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    0.71633

    343

    2

    0.70225

    277

    3

    0.71023

    320

    4

    0.71225

    320

    5

    0.72254

    348

    40m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    0.72464

    325

    2

    0.74184

    280

    3

    0.74627

    331

    4

    0.73746

    293

    5

    0.75301

    319

    90m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    1.12108

    730

    2

    1.1062

    719

    3

    1.12613

    760

    4

    1.11607

    749

    5

    1.12613

    723

    80m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    1.05485

    646

    2

    1.04167

    644

    3

    1.04167

    676

    4

    1.04603

    658

    5

    1.04167

    659

    70m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    0.94697

    564

    2

    0.95057

    570

    3

    0.9434

    569

    4

    0.94697

    581

    5

    0.95057

    581

    Height Dropped (cm)

    Average Speed (m/s)

    Average Distance (mm)

    90

    0.23

    41

    80

    0.46

    134

    70

    0.61

    219

    60

    0.74

    310

    50

    0.71

    322

    40

    0.83

    447

    30

    0.95

    573

    20

    1.05

    657

    10

    1.12

    736

    30m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    0.59524

    212

    2

    0.62344

    214

    3

    0.6068

    206

    4

    0.59524

    224

    5

    0.62657

    240

    20m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    0.45537

    137

    2

    0.4562

    133

    3

    0.44964

    137

    4

    0.46642

    131

    5

    0.46041

    134

    10m

    Reading

    Speed

    Distance

    m/s

    mm

    1

    0.24802

    39

    2

    0.22543

    40

    3

    0.23832

    40

    4

    0.22957

    43

    5

    0.21758

    43

    MARBLE RESULTS

    Diameter =1.6cm

     Weight = 4.2g (1d.p)

    ...read more.

    Conclusion

    Confidence on the Conclusion

    On the whole, I am quite confident with my conclusion. I attained a set of results which strongly suggested that speed of the ball had the effect on the ball’s breaking distance. Although, as most of the graphs show, many of the range bars are a bit large, meaning that the results are not very reliable as there is a large scatter of data, perhaps this was because of the ramp bent as the ball rolled on or that the light gate wasn’t positioned correctly at that time, justifying the reason why its results was so scattered.

    Throughout the experiment, I had obtained many outliers in my results, as shown by the 2 Tables. These may have occurred because of any of the following reasons:

    • On some repeats, the position of the light gate wasn’t in the same place as other repeats or therefore making

    Despite these outliers, the majority of the averages were close to or on the curve of best fit, so after eliminating outliers, the results were reliable on the whole.

    ...read more.

    This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Forces and Motion section.

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    Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

    4 star(s)

    The initial discussion about the factors affecting stopping distance was very thorough and technical vocabulary was used well, eg. work, kinetic energy, etc.The equation that needs to be used is Work done = kinetic energy.

    Fd = 1/2 mv^2

    so if F is constant, then a graph of d against v^2 should give a straight line.

    The data was extensive but there was less discussion about uncertainty and the graph could be plotted more effectively. 4 stars

    Marked by teacher Pete Golton 06/06/2013

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