D09 LNL Centripetal Force

Lab Report.

 Lab Title:

Centripetal Force

 Lab Purpose:

The purpose of this lab is to be able to understand and verify the

relationship centripetal force, mass, velocity, and the radius of orbit for a
body that is undergoing centripetal acceleration

 Hypothesis:

If the orbital radius is increased, then the amount of centripetal force

increases. The centripetal force increases because the further an object is
from the source of force, the greater the force has to be to keep it
moving at a constant velocity.

 Variables :

Independent: Length of string

Dependent: tension of string
Controlled: mass and velocity

 Materials:

o centripetal motor
o spring
o hanging mass
 Procedure:

1. Materials
2. Data Collection
3. Data analysis

 Lab Results and Observations

Experimental Data for Experiment 2

Masse (kg) Click Position Time for 20 Revolutions Delta x (m)

0.025 3 30 0.007
0.025 4 24 0.012
0.025 5 19 0.019
0.025 6 15 0.027

Calculated Values for Experiment 2

Theorical
Mass (kg) Click Position Measured P (s) Theorical P (s) w (rad/s)
Angle (deg)
0.025 3 1.5 1.6 38.94 0.16
0.025 4 1.2 1.23 63.01 0.09
0.025 5 0.95 0.97 73.35 0.08
0.025 6 0.75 0.82 78.36 0.08
Data Analysis

The collected data shows that there is a relationship between the orbital
radius of an object and its centripetal force. The collected data and graph
show that the radius is inverse cubically proportional to centripetal force.
So as the radius increases and mass and velocity remain the same, the
centripetal force will decrease. The hypothesis was incorrect because as
the radius of an objects circular motion is increased, the centripetal force
decreases.