Stony Brook University

PHY 133.L17

Acceleration

Xuecen Wang (Summer)

ID: 113961753

Partner: Alexander Thomas Kanes

TA: Hiroki Sukeno

Experiment Date: September 17th, 2020

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1 Introduction

The purpose of this experiment is to estimate the value of acceleration due to gravity

using the kinematic equation v 2 yf = v 2 y0 + 2gΔy . Equipment used includes a Vernier Picket

Fence, a meter stick, and a photogate. First, we measured the length of 7 black and clear

segments of the fence and divided by 7 to obtain the width of each segment, and we dropped the

fence through the photogate to gather velocity of number of segments per second and got a

velocity vs. time plot. Second, we release the fence on varying heights above the photogate by

2cm increments. We calculated the first acceleration which is 9.734 ± 5.227m/s^2, the second

acceleration which is 10.59 ± 1.675m/s^2, and they are consistent with the expected vault

9.81m/s^2 to within uncertainty. We discuss possible factors of systematic errors.

2 Data Table
In this section, we present data obtained from the two experiments.

Table 1: Quantity D, N, d and g(physical units) with uncertainties.

Part I
g (physical
Quantity D N d units)
Unit cm (Unitless) cm m/s^2
Value 34.95 7 4.992857143 9.734074286
Uncertainty 0.05 0 0.007142857143 5.226527799
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Table 2: Slopes of graph segments vs. time obtained from LoggerPro.

Slope segments/s^2
Trial 1 196.4
Trial 2 194.1
Trial 3 195.1
Trial 4 193.9
Trial 5 195.3
Average 194.96
Uncert. in
Mean 1.00895986

Table 3: Height h, velocity v (segments/s), velocity v(m/s), v^2 with corresponding uncertainties.

v (physical
Height, h Uncertainty Velocity, v units) Uncertainty v^2 Uncertainty
m unitless segments/s m/s (Unitless) m^2/s^2 (Unitless)
0.991826863
0.02 0.002 37.29 1.861836429 0.2663571429 3.466434887 2
0.04 0.002 41.44 2.069040000 0.296 4.280926522 1.22487168
0.06 0.002 43.5 2.171892857 0.3107142857 4.717118583 1.349676276
0.08 0.002 44.37 2.215330714 0.3169285714 4.907690174 1.404203197
0.1 0.002 45.76 2.284731429 0.3268571429 5.219997701 1.493561574

3 Graph

In this section, we present graph of v 2 vs. height H .

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4 Result

In Part I, we measured the width of each segment to be 4.993 ± 0.007cm and found the

acceleration due to gravity of the fence to be 9.734 ± 5.227m/s^2, close to the known value

9.81m/s^2.

In Part II, we obtained the velocity of the fence drop from the photogate and plot the velocity

squared vs. height graph. The slope of the graph is the value of 2g, 21.1831 ± 3.349 m/s^2. The

final result of the acceleration due to gravity is 10.59 ± 1.675 m/s^2 to within the uncertainty.
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5 Discussion

Effect of systematic error associated with measuring ​D

The procedure we used to measure D could have been improved. We used a worn out meter stick

to measure the D, length of 7 blocks on the fence, which causes systematic error. Measuring with

a different person causes systematic error, too. If the ruler was tilted by 1 degree against the

fence, the actual length of the block would be smaller than the measured length, resulting in

greater acceleration due to gravity.

Effect of the initial velocity to the gravity constant g

When calculating the gravity constant, we apply the formula v 2 f − v 2 i = 2gh and assume that the

initial velocity is zero for the sake of easy calculation. However, ignoring the initial velocity of

the first black block passing the photogate causes the calculated gravity constant to be larger than

the actual gravity constant.

Effect of tilt of the fence in x-, y- , and z-direction

If the fence was tilted in x-direction initially, the vertical height of blocks going through the

photogate would be smaller than actual height, thus the period of time of fence dropping would

be smaller than actual, resulting in increased measured velocity. According to the formula

v 2 f − v 2 i = 2gh in which v i and h remain consistent, ​because of the increase in v f , a larger g

value is the result.

If the fence was tilted in y-direction initially, the vertical height of total blocks passing through

the photogate does not change. Thus the gravity constant calculated will not be affected.
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If the fence was tilted in z-direction initially, the vertical height would be shorter than actual,

resulting in shorter time elapsed when dropping and increased v f , which ultimately cause an

increase in calculated g .

6 Conclusion

We attempt to calculate the acceleration due to gravity using v 2 f − v 2 i = 2gh . Our results

show that the acceleration due to gravity is 10.59 ± 1.675 m/s^2 which is consistent with the

known value 9.81m/s^2 to within uncertainty. The discrepancy between measured and calculated

acceleration due to gravity is possibly explained by the systematic error in measuring the height

of all blocks D, initial velocity when measuring g, and the unintentional tilt of the fence.