Lab1:1Dand2DKinematics

Thaksaporn(May),Narissara(Nik),Nattanit(Nam),Palang(Pai),Phatsawan(Mild)

Objective:

Toanalyzethemotionofarollingballinthreedifferentstages.Describewith

plots,equationsandwordsthemotionoftheobjectintermsoftherelationshipbetweenposition,
time,velocity,andacceleration.

Materials:
Stopwatch
Carbontape
Ruler
Notebook,pen,pencil
Scientificcalculator
Metalball
o
Twoverniertracks(angleofthefirsttrack=6
,Thesecondtrackisverticaltothedeskthetwo
trackswerealignedsothataballcanrunthroughsmoothly)

Procedure:

FromTopview

1.

FromSideview

Note.
Track1:allmeasurementsuncertaintyis 0.2cm. Track2:allmeasurementsuncertainty
is 0.1 cm.
1) Measurethelengthofbothtracksanddividethecombinedlengthinto8equal
sections
2) Markeachsectiondownbyputtingatapeanddrawalineonaspecificpointon
thetrack(includingthestartingpoint1st),todividethetrackintothedesired
numbersofsection.

3) Startreleasingthemetalballfromthestartingpointuntiltheendofthefirst
section(1stto2nd,1stto3rd,1stto4th,1stto5th,1stto6th,1stto7th,1stto
8th,and1stto9thposition)andrecordthetime.Putarulertostoptheballatthe
endpointofthesection,stopthetimerwhenwehearthesoundoftheball
bangingintotheruler.
4) Inordertocalculatetheaveragetime(inseconds),repeatstep3untilthereare
fiverunsforeachsection(thereareeightsectionsintotal).
5) Releasetheballdownfromthestartingpointandlookatwhereitfirstfelldown
andtouchedtheground.
6) Putthecarbontapeovertheareastartingfromtheedgeofthetabletoabout5cm.
furtherawayfromthepredictedfallingpoint.
7) Measureandrecordthedistance(incentimeter)inwhichtheballfallsdownand
touchthegroundbylookingatthebluepointonthecarbontape,releasetheball
startingfromthestartingpoint.
8) Repeatstep7forfivetimesandrecordtheresults.
9) Changethereleasingpositionoftheball(position2nd4th)andrepeatsteps3
9
untilallofthesectionswerecompleteandrecorded(time[second]and
position[cm.]).

ResultsandDiscussion:
Table1:DistancevsTimeTable(fivetrials)

Table2:

Graph1

Graph2:VelocityvsTime(motion1)

Table3:
Rangesofmetalballwhenreleasingfromdifferentpoints

Table4:Timewhenreleasingtheballfromdifferentpoint

Table5:
Thefinalvelocityofthemetalballbeforefallingfromtheedgeofthetable

Graph3:VelocityvsRangeGraph

Discussion:
Fromtheexperiment,variousdataswerecollectedandanalyzed.Theexperimentcanbe
dividedintothreedistinctmotions:motionwithconstantacceleration,motionwithconstant
velocity,andparabolicmotioninwhichwewereintendedtoprove.Agraphofdistanceversus
timeisplotted(graph1),wheretherearecomposedoftwomotionsconstantacceleration
(inclinedtrack)andconstantvelocity(horizontaltrack).Thefirstmotionisalinearmotionin
whichthereisaconstantaccelerationthatcausesacontinualincreaseinvelocity.Inthismotion,
weseparatedthedistanceintofourequalsections(position1position5)inordertoincreasethe
accuracyofmeasurementsandmakeiteasierforustorecordthetimeofmotions.Themotionof
constantaccelerationwhereaballrolledonaninclinedtrackisdenotedasmotion1.Themotion
ofconstantvelocitywherethetrackhasnoinclinedangleisdenotedasmotion2.Fromtable1,
therecordedtimesofeachsectionareaveragedandusedtocalculatethevelocityofthismotion
withthedistance.Bycalculatingthevelocity,wewillbeabletoidentifytheaccelerationofthis
motionandseewhetheritfollowsthetheorywevelearnedintheclassornot.
Firstofall,inordertoprovethattheaccelerationremainsconstantduringmotion1,
velocityisneeded.UsingtheequationofVelocity=displacement/time,wecancalculatethe
velocityoneachsectionofthetrack.Accordingtotable2,anaccelerationofmotion1is
2
preciselyconstant,theaccelerationisrangedfrom8.27to12m/s
,whichisinagoodrangetaken
intoaccountthatthisisahumanexperiment.Theaccelerationcanbenoticedbythegraphof
velocityversustimeofmotion1(graph2)(theslopeofthegraph).Nevertheless,intheory,the
ballshouldhaveaconstantacceleration.Thisstatementistrueforallobjecttravelingwithno
friction.Thisexperimentindicateshumanerrorsinwhichwillbediscussedlaterinthereport.
Forexample,inposition2,thedistanceisequalto55cmwhilethetimeofthemotionis
2.15secondssobysubstitutingintheformula,thefinalvelocityofthismotionis26cm/s.Onthe
otherhand,inpositionthreethedistanceisequalto110cmandtheintervaltimeofthemotionis
3.06secondssothefinalvelocityisequalto35.9cm/s.Moreover,basedonthedatawedgot,we
plottedthegraphofdistanceovertimewhichthexaxisofthegraphdeterminestimewhilethe
yaxisdeterminesthedistance.Byusingthisdistancevstimegraph,wecanalsocalculatethe
velocityofthemotionwithoutusingtheformulaabovebecausewecandeterminethevelocity
fromtheslopeofthegraph.Theslopeofthegraphcanbecalculatedbydividingthedifferenceof
distance(Yaxis)andthedifferenceoftime(Xaxis).Aswecanseetheslopeofthegraphatthe
beginningofthemotion(motion1)issteepercomparingwiththeend(motion2)thisduetothe
effectoftheaccelerationthatdramaticallyincreasesthevelocityofthemotionastheballrolled
downtheinclinedtrack.
Secondly,themotionofthesecondstageisalinearmotionwithaconstantvelocity.This
isbecausethetrackduringthisstageisanoninclinedtrackinwhich,theoreticallyshouldhave
noacceleration.ThedatafromTable2showsthattheaveragevelocitiesforeachpointarevery
closetogether(comparedtothedataonthesametableformotion1).Thereforewecanbesure
thatthevelocitydidremainatacertainpointforaparticulartimeforthismotion.Toverifythis
wecanusethedataandplotsinGraph1whichshowstherelationshipbetweendistanceandtime
foreachofthesections.Wecanseethatfrompoint5onwardsthelineconnectingthepointsis
linearwhichhasaconstantslope.Theslopeinthisgraphcanbereferredtoasvelocitydotothe

formula velocity = displacement

.However,thedatashownintable2showsanaccelerationduring
time
motion2,whichhasasimilarvalueasthoseofmotion1.Thereasonisthatbothtracksarenot
longenough.Theballstillhaveanaccelerationfrommotion1,whichiswhymotiontwo
contradictsthetheoryofconstantvelocity.Anotherthingthatcontributestothiserroneousisthat
theexperimentisconductedbyhumanthatcausestheresultstovaryandchangesthetrendofthe
line.Forexample,thesecondmotion(5thto9th),thevelocityfromthefirstmotiontendsto
decreaseslightlyduetofrictionofthehorizontaltrack.
Lastly,graphthreeofrangeversustimethatdescribesmotionthreeshowsaparabolic
motion.ThevelocitythatisusedtoplotthegraphcomesfromequationV=s/tfrommotiontwo.
Ifweweretoassumethattherollingballhasaconstantvelocityduringmotion2,thenthe
numericalvaluescanbepluckedintotheequationrightaway.Once,thegraphisplotted(graph3)
whererangeisontheyaxis,andvelocityisonthexaxis,theslopebecomesthetotaltimeof
flight.Fromeachpointinterval,theslopesaresimilar,showingalinearline,whichindicates
similaramountoftime.Thetimeofflightwillalwaysbeequalregardlessofthevelocityonthex
directionaslongastheycomponentandtheheightarethesame.Thereasonisthatthevelocity
ofthexcomponentremainsconstantduringthewholeflight,andtherangetraveledbytheball
willincreaseasthevelocityincreases.
Duringtheexperiment,thereweretwomainpossiblesourcesofuncertainty,including
equipmentsandhumanerrors.Fromthebeginning,thereisagapbetweentrack1and2andthe
othergapbetweentrack2andthetablesedge,whichweestimatedthatthefirstgapwasaround
0.2cmandthesecondonewasaround0.1cm.Therefore,werecorded219.8 0.2 cm.and121.9
0.1 cmforthefirstandsecondtrack.,respectively.Becausethetotallengthsofbothtracks

haveuncertainty,thelengthofeverysectionwedividedalsohavethesameuncertainty.The
differentlengthofbothtracksresultedindifferentlengthofdividedsegmentseachsegmentin
track1is55 0.2cm.whileintrack2eachsegmentis30.5 0.1cm.Secondly,Thereleaseof
theballmaynotexactlycorrespondtothedigitaltimerbecausetheremightbedelay.Besides
equipmenterrors,thepersonwhoreleasedtheballandthepersonwhorecordedthetimewerenot
thesameperson.Thus,weestimatedtheuncertaintyof0.05s.foreverytimemeasurement
becausethereprobablywassomedelay.Unfortunately,wedidnotaccuratelymeasurethe
horizontaldistance(range)fromthepointwheretheballwasabouttofalltothepointwhereithit
thetape.Whentheballrandownthetrackandentertheprojectilemotion,itencounteredfriction
fromthetrackandairresistanceduringthefallingdown.Lastly,themainsourcethataffectedthe
ballsspeedwasourappliedforce.Itisimpossibletocontrolourforcewhenwereleasedtheball.
Weaccidentallyappliedforceinsometrials.

Conclusion:
Therollingballexperimentisconductedinordertoprovethetheoreticalkinematics
equationsinwhichvelocity,time,distance,andaccelerationareinvolved.Theexperimentwas

separatedintothreedifferentsections.Thefirstsectionisaninclinedramp,wheretheballstarts
rolling.Thesecondsectionisconnectedtothefirst,whichcomposesofastraightlongrampwith
noinclineangle.Thelastsectioniswheretheballstopsrolling,andfallsoffthetable.
Accordingtothefirstgraphofdistanceversustime,aconclusionhasbeenstatedthatthe
rollingballhasanincreasingvelocityduetoanincreasedslopeofthegraph.Thus,thereisan
acceleration.Thefivespotsofthefirstgraphshowsanexponentialcurvealongwiththe
calculationofacceleration.Thiscanbeconcludedthatthemotionoftheballduringaninclined
plainhasaconstantacceleration.Inaddition,thesamedistanceversustimegraphalsostatedthat
theballduringthesecondstageismovingataconstantspeed,thusnoacceleration.Eventhough
thereisanerroronthegraphforthelastplot,wecanstillseethetrendthatthegraphconsistently
increasesandhasaconstantslope,whichthereforeshowsthatthevelocityisconstantthroughout
thesecondmotionstimeinterval.Addingtothis,thelaststageofthisexperimentcanbe
concludedasaparabolicmotion.Thiscanbeprovedfromthevelocityversusdisplacement
graphwhichagain,showsalinearlinethathasaconstantslope.Therefore,fromtheformula
velocity = displacement
wecanderivefromthisthatthetimeduringthisstageisconstantwhich
time
causesthevelocityintheyaxistobethesamethrougheveryscenariobecausetheaccelerationin
theyaxisisconstant(whichisgravity).Fromthiswecanconcludethattheonlyeffectuponthe
distancethattheballfallswerecausedbythechangesinvelocityandthus,thisfallsintothe
categoryofparabolicmotion.

Furthermore,thisexperimentcanbeimprovedbyusingmoreprecisemeasuringtools
suchasusingamotionsensorinsteadofusingastopwatchtoeliminatethehumanerrorsthat
haveoccurredinthisexperiment.Wecouldusetrackswiththesameandmoreprecisescaleora
deskthathasnoleanedoutedgestoreduceoreliminatetheuncertaintiesofthemeasurements
whichwouldaffectthevaluesofvelocitiesandaccelerationofeachtrials.Inaddition,wecan
alsorepeateachsectionsformoretrialssowecancomeupwithamorepreciseaverage
measurementsofeachsectionsinwhichtherefore,wouldresultinamoreaccuratevaluesof
velocitiesandaccelerationsforeachofthestages.