Laurier CI SPH3U

Galileo’s Accelerated Motion Name: Kramptj KC

Partner(s): _____________________________________________

Historical Background

When Galileo introduced the concept of acceleration in the early 1600s, he defined it as “equal increases in speed
in equal intervals of time.” This experiment is similar to the one discussed by Galileo in his book, Dialogues
Concerning Two New Sciences, in which he assumed that a ball rolling down a ramp accelerates uniformly.

Galileo used a water-clock to measure time; you will use a Motion Sensor and a computer, which improves the
accuracy of your measurements somewhat. From these measurements, you should be able to decide for yourself
whether Galileo’s assumption was valid or not. The data you will be able to gather in one roll of a cart down an
incline is more than Galileo was able to acquire in many trials.

Preliminary Questions

1. You hold two baseballs, one 30 cm above the other, and drop them both at the same time. As they fall, would
the distance between the balls increase, decrease, or stay constant? Why? T ____/2

The distance between the two balls will stay the same because they have the same mass which means they both
will accelerate at the same rate
2. You hold a rock in your hand, throw it straight upwards, and catch it at the same height from which you threw it.
Sketch a position-time and a velocity-time graph for the rock’s motion. T ____/2

d v

t t

Materials motion sensor computer

dynamics track (short or long) dynamics cart

Method

1. Connect the motion sensor to the DIG/SONIC 1 port of the LabPro interface.
2. Set up the track so that one end is higher than the other. It doesn’t have to be a steep angle; 5° – 10° is enough.
3. Put the motion sensor at the top end of the track, set the proper sensitivity (if applicable), and make sure the
sensor is pointed straight down the track so it can see the cart the entire way.
4. Start LoggerPro; the program should see the motion sensor and set up d-t and v-t graphs, and a data chart.
5. Place the cart on the track in the grooves, no closer than 30-40 cm from the motion sensor.
6. Click the green Collect button, wait a second, then release the cart. Be sure to get all possible objects which
could confuse the motion sensor – wooden boxes, books, your hand/body – as far away from it as possible.
7. Catch the cart before it rolls off the end of the track. If your data run doesn’t have any jagged peaks during the
important part of your data, save the file to your home drive under your group members’ names.
Laurier CI SPH3U

Raw Data

From your first graph (down the ramp), take one second’s worth of “good” data and use the Examine button ( )
to fill in the chart below with time and velocity values. The data are “good” if there are no big blips, the car is rolling
smoothly and isn’t at rest, and if the d-t and v-t graphs appear to agree with each other.

Change in speed from

Data Point t (s) v (m/s)
previous point (m/s)
1.10 0.260
1
1.30 0.359 0.099
2
1.50 0.440 0.081
3
1.70 0.495 0.055
4
1.90 0.613 0.118
5
2.10 0.709 0.096
6
2.30 0.804 0.095
7
2.50 0.830 0.026
8
2.70 0.939 0.109
9
2.90 1.015 0.076
10
0.416
slope of v-t graph
- 0.0125
average acceleration

Now use the Linear Fit button ( ) on LoggerPro and find the slope of that section of the v-t graph. Be sure to
select only that part of the graph which corresponds to the data you took!

Slope of the graph: 0.416

Analysis

1. Calculate the average acceleration of the ball between the first and the last time recorded (tfirst and tlast) using
your data and the formula for average acceleration:

v v last  v first
a 
t t last  t first
Compare it to the slope of the graph from the screen. Are they similar or different?

1.015  0.260
a= = 0.419
2.90  1.10
The slopes are different. This occurred because when we calculate average we only use the first and the last
number and subtract and doing this we got a different value because it excludes all the other values while the
program does not.

2. Galileo defined uniform acceleration as equal increases in speed in equal intervals of time. Do your data support
this definition? Explain.

Our data does not support Galileo’s definition because in our data when the time is being increased by a
constant value the velocity is not constant. This is probably because this experiment is not being done in a vacuum
so there are external factors taking place such as air pressure.
Laurier CI SPH3U

3. Look at the curve/linear fit equation for the velocity vs. time graph. Record the slope in the data table. Does the
fitted function have a constant slope? What are its units? What does that slope represent?

Looking at our graph which we got from logger pro shows us that the slope is relatively constant through out the
graph excluding the ridges made by bumps from the metal bar which was used during the experiment. The slope of
our graph represents acceleration which is measured in meters per second squared.

Marking scheme: Preliminary Q1............................... T /2

Preliminary Q2............................... T /2
Data Table...................................... T /5
Sample Graph (with fit)................ T /2
Analysis Q1.................................... T /2
Analysis Q2.................................... T /2
Analysis Q3.................................... T /3

Totals: T /18 C /10

(T: Thinking/Inquiry, C: Communication)