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1st Year College Sci Paper p6
1st Year College Sci Paper p6
KINEMATICS
Group #3
TOTAL _______ / 70
ABSTRACT
Objects fall because of the pull of gravity. When a falling object accelerates downwards at exactly
9.8 m/s2, and is not affected by friction and air resistance but is solely under the influence of gravity
alone, then the object is said to be in free fall motion. Using formulas in free fall motion, the group
computed for the acceleration due to gravity and then compared it with the theoretical value in
order to indicate its accuracy and percentage error. The picket fence got an average computation
for (g) of 10.08m/s2. He concluded that regardless of the mass, objects tend to fall with the same
rate of acceleration under such conditions, neglecting air resistance, and friction, due to gravity.
Projectile motion involves an object given an initial velocity and then launched following a curved
path under the influence of gravity and negligible air resistance. When this object moves
horizontally, it is affected by certain acceleration and its velocity becomes constant. However,
when it moves vertically, its acceleration is also constant where its velocity constantly changes by
9.8 m/s each second because of the influence of gravity here on Earth. Therefore, it concludes that
the horizontal motion of a projectile is independent of its vertical motion. The path that this object
follows is known to be as a trajectory. The results then were compared to several theoretical values
according to the variations of the experiment and the group was able to get a less than 10%
percentage error which makes the experimental values accurate. Projectile motion can be applied
on a person’s daily life and activities, being aware of this concept could contribute to a person’s
Aristotle’s theories has made Galileo Galilei, an Italian physicist, subject himself to
experimentation as he started to perform multiple but very careful observations. Galilei dropped
two objects with different masses from the leaning tower of Pisa. He repeated this experiment “a
full hundred times” until he had the attained an accuracy such that the deviation between two
observations never exceeded one-tenth of a pulse beat. After finalizing things, Galileo wrote this
theory down in De Motu Antiquiora, a manuscript about falling bodies, although it has not been
published yet up until now. (1)
Free fall is considered as an important elementary example of motion, which is the motion
where an object is falling under sole influence of gravity. As a remarkable fact first discovered by
Galileo Galilei, objects in free fall motion tend to accelerate downwards at the same rate,
independent of their mass, as long as the air resistance is neglected. This means that under free fall
motion, all objects have constant acceleration (g) which is 9.8 m/s2; this constant acceleration due
to gravity (g) is based from the works of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein as they dominated the
development of gravitational theory. (2)
Projectile motion is known to be a form motion applied to an object being thrown or ejected
and moves along in 2-Dimensions (x-axis, y-axis). Unlike from kinematics and free fall motion
where an object traces only 1-Dimensional axis and forms either horizontal or vertical path,
Projectile motion moves along the 2-axis and forms a parabolic path. Although projectile motion
can only be influenced by gravity alone and the presence of air resistance must always be negligible
or very small to be felt. (3)
There are many examples of projectile motion that can be observed on a person’s daily life.
Take for an instance the batting of a baseball, a ball thrown towards another direction, a bullet shot
from a gun; these are all examples and applications of projectile motion. Generally, those things
are called projectiles. (4)
SCHEMATIC PROCEDURE
I.
II.
Set up the apparatus Measure the vertical Fire the launcher five times
displacement as its leaves and record the data as
the barrel to the floor. indicate in the Xplorer GLX
I.
Trial Vertical Displacement Velocity (m/s) Acceleration Due to
(m) gravity {m/s2)
1 0.30 2.47 10.17
2 0.35 2.52 9.07
3 0.30 2.55 10.58
4 0.30 2.49 10.33
5 0.30 2.48 10.25
Experimental Acceleration due to gravity, g 10.08
Theoretical Value 9.80 m/s^2
Percentage Error 6.24%
II.
I.
The group observed a constant velocity; there were no changes in the speed of the fall. This
is due to the constant value of gravity which is 9.8 m/s2. The difference in the objects’ size and
mass is neglected and so does the air friction or air resistance leaving an equal acceleration due to
gravity or gravitational acceleration which is always downward. This resulted in an equal elapsed
time for the two objects to fall. It can also be concurred that the data gathered by the group is
accurate since the experimental and theoretical data was compared and subjected to percentage
error formula.
II.
This experiment showed that the body falling horizontally falls at the same time with the
vertically launched projectile; because the horizontal component is independent from the vertical
component.It is believed that both of them will result with the same time of fall because there’s
the acceleration due to gravity acting on it. The data proved that it was indeed the same with 0.64%
difference of the computed average time of fall. The important concept depicted in the above
diagram is that the horizontal velocity remains constant during the course of the trajectory and the
The laboratory experiment was demonstrated in order for the group to understand the concept
of free fall. The group discovered that when an object falls affected by gravity, its velocity
increments at a customary pace and the average of this pace is known as g = 9.8 m/s2 . In spite of
everything to the mass, objects will tend to fall with a similar rate of acceleration under such
conditions: ignoring air resistance and friction. Also, a free falling body is a body with the main
force following up on them is gravity. The group also, enabled the group to scrutinize the projectile
motion by deciding the inceptive velocity given to the ball and eventually envision the scope of a
shot. The group was able to perceive these things because of the knowledge that the experiment
has given. The group learned that both of the axis movements in projectile motion are independent
from each other, this means that acceleration in x-axis is constant and the same applies with the y-
axis and because of this occurrence, a parabolic path is made by the projectile as it travels from its
(1) Elert, Glenn (1998-2018). The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
https://physics.info/falling/
(2) Faller, James E., Cook, Alan H., Nordtvedt, Kenneth L., (2013). G-force, Gravitation.
https://www.britannica.com/science/gravity-physics
(4) Serway R A and Jewett J W, Jr. 2008 PHYSICS for Scientists and Engineers with Modern