Finding the Tension

11/3/09

Ahmed Ali
Aidrous Ali
Casiano Perez
Mohamed Mohamed
Purpose: The objective of the lab is to find the tension in the string that is attached to a toy
plane accelerating in a circle. The purpose is to construct a procedure to find all the variables and
an equation to use those variables to find the tension.

Equipment:
• Meter stick
• Timer
• Plane connected attached to the ceiling by a string, that is accelerating in circles
• Safety Goggles
• Scale

Procedure: First we will draw a FBD, then sum the forces, then use the sum of the
forces to create an equation to find the tension. We want to then find all the variables
needed to find tension, according to the equation we created. The equation we made is
T=m(v2 r)Cosθ.
We measured the string to find its length(s). We used the scale to find the mass(m), to
find the radius we measured the distance from the plane at the highest point of its
horizontal, circular flight path to the ceiling using a meter stick, then we took the plane
and pulled it along the string against a meter stick touching the ceiling then pulled the
plane until there was no slack then held it to the part on the meter stick we got in the
previous step, then we marked where the meter stick touched the ceiling, then measured
from the mark to the point where the string connects to the ceiling and that length we
measure is the radius(r). C=2πr is the equation to find the circumference of the planes
revolution. To find the velocity of the plane, we timed one revolution of the plane ten
times then found the average time (t) for one revolution, then divided the
circumference(C) by the t; the result is the velocity (v). To find angle (θ) I used Cos-1
(r/s).

Data:
Trial times for the timing of the planes revolution:
Trial 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean

Time 1.25 1.13 1.25 1.25 1.22 1.15 1.18 1.19 1.21 1.22 1.2

(seconds)
Data Analysis: Summed Forces:
,
∑Fx=max ∑Fy=may
TCosθ=mv2r Sinθ=TyT
r=.76m,
•
t=1.2s,
•
s=.80m,
•
m=.133kg,
•
• θ=18.19°,
• v=3.97m,
• C=4.77m,
We found those variables in the following ways:

• C=2πr= 2π.76= 4.77m

v=C/t=4.77/1.2=3.97m/s
•
• θ=Cos-1 (r/s)= Cos-1 (.76/.80)=18.19°

We put those variables into the equation

T=m(v2r)Cosθ

T=.133kg[(3.97m/s)2.76m]Cos(18.19°)=2.9N

Conclusion: The Tension in the string is 2.9 N. Possible sources of error are the
timing of the revolution and the measurement of the radius of its orbit, which would have
created an error in theta, which would have eventually led to an error in the Tension. If I
used a motion detector to find t my results might have been more accurate. If I used a
motion detector to find the radius instead of using the meter stick, I would have probably
yielded more accurate results.