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Contemporary Physics
Laboratory Report Sheet
Lab 1 - Constant Acceleration of Cart
September 10, 1999
My Name _________________
Section: _____ MWF
My Lab Partner’s Name(s) _______________________________
Apparatus:
_____TThF
Include Block Diagram Sketch of Apparatus here:
Describe in a few sentences how the position, velocity and acceleration are determined by the motion
sensor.
Prediction: Draw a quick sketch of position versus time, velocity versus time and acceleration versus
time that would result if the motion sensor begins measuring time and 1 second later the cart is pushed
away from the sensor moving at a speed of .5 m/s. Do this over a time of 4 seconds.
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Data Collection:
Launch the cart toward the motion sensor up the inclined track, collect data and complete the following:
Attach graphs for the displacement, velocity and acceleration as functions of time printed from Science
Workshop. Fit the distance versus time graph to a quadratic curve and fit the velocity versus time
graph to a linear relationship. For the acceleration graph record the mean and standard deviations of
the acceleration.
For the distance versus time graph record the value of the acceleration, 2 times the coefficient of x^2
(time squared) as the acceleration.
a = 2 × a2 = _______________________
For the velocity versus time graph record the value of the acceleration, the slope.
v = slope = ______________________
For the acceleration versus time graph record the value of the mean of the acceleration and its standard
deviation.
a = mean = _____________________
sd of a = _______________________
Compare the values of acceleration obtained form these three approaches.
Relate your graph predictions with your observation and describe briefly what you have learned.