Lab Report (Newton’s Second Law-2)

Part 1: Introduction
Title: Lab: Newton’s Second Law (Part 2)

Purpose: The Newton’s Second Law inquiry lab explores how changing one variable
affects another. Acceleration was monitored when the independent variable(mass) was
changed in order to reach a conclusion.

Question: How does changing an object’s mass affect how an object accelerates?

Hypothesis: :If the mass of a cart increases, then the acceleration of the cart decreases
when the force applied to the cart is held constant, because mass and acceleration are

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inversely proportional to each other according to Newton’s second law.

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Variables:

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Independent Variable: mass of the cart

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Dependent Variable: acceleration of the cart
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Constant: force applied to the cart
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Part 2 Materials and Procedures
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Materials: Cart, fan, Track, Timer, graphs and data tracker ( all through a virtual lab)
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Procedure:
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Step 1.Open the virtual simulation and open the “Force and Fan Carts” gizmo, after
completing the demo return to the experiment set up
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Step 2: Run the simulation with a mass of 2 kg to determine the acceleration of the cart.
a) Open the Experiment tab and select High for the fan speed.
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b) Place the textbook on the cart so the total mass of the cart is 2 kg.
c) Open the Data tab and select the Speed and Line graph buttons.
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d) Click the Play button. Let the cart run past the finish line.
e) Once the cart crosses the finish line, record the data from the “Speed data” table into
your lab guide in Table C in the 2 kg mass column. Record the total distance to the
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finish line (represented by the flag) and the total elapsed time (bottom left of the Gizmo)
in Table D.

Step 3: Reset the carts position (remember to set to high speed) and repeat step two
but set the soda bottle as well as the book on the cart. (4kg.)

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 Step 4 Reset the carts position (remember to set to high speed) and repeat step two but
set the textbook as well as the soda bottle and the book on the cart. (6kg.)

Step 5: Calculate the change in velocity of the cart for each run.
a) Calculate the change in velocity of the cart for each cart mass. Remember the
formula for change in velocity (Δv), which is the difference between the final velocity (vf)
and the initial velocity
(vi): Δv = vf – vi
a) Be sure to use the initial and final velocities you recorded in Table C to calculate the
change in velocity.
Record your answers in Table D.

Step 6: Calculate the acceleration of the cart for each run.

a) Calculate the acceleration of the cart for each cart mass. Remember the formula for
acceleration (a), which is the change in velocity (Δv) over the total elapsed time (Δt):
a = Δv/Δt

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Record your answers in Table D.

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Groups:
Experimental Group: /

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Control Group: /
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Part 3: Data Collection and Organization:
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Quantitative:
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Table C:
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Elapsed Time Cart Speed (2 kg Cart Speed (4 kg Cart Speed (6 kg

(s) mass) (cm/s) mass) (cm/s) mass) (cm/s)
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0 0cm/s 0cm/s 0

1 16cm/s 8cm/s 5.3cm/s

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2 32cm/s 16cm/s 10.7cms

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3 48cm/s 24cm/s 16.0cm/s

4 64cm/s 32cm/s 21.3cm/s

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5 80cm/s 40cm/s 26.7cm/s

6 96cm/s 48cm/s 32cm/s

7 112cm/s 56cm/s 37.3cm/s

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 8 - 64cm/s 42.7cm/s

9 - 72 cm/s 48cm/s

10 - 80cm/s 53.3cm/s

11 - 88cm/s 58.7cm/s

12 - - 64cm/s

Table D:

2 kg mass 4 kg mass 6 kg mass

Elapsed time to finish line (s) 7.9s 11.1s 13.7s

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Total Distance (cm) 500cm 500cm 500cm

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Average velocity (cm/s) 63.3 cm/s 45.0 cm/s 36.5 cm.s

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Acceleration a (cm/s^2)
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Part 4: Analysis and Conclusion
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Analysis:
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The relationship between the variables were discovered through this experiment. The
dependent variable (acceleration) was noted to have decreased when the independent
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variable (mass) increased. The controlled variable (the force applied to the cart) did not
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change in order to keep the experiment controlled. The acceleration decreased when
the mass increased because of their inverse relationship, according to Newton's Second
Law.The data depicts this trend because when the mass is increasing from low to high,
over the elapsed time, the cart speeds are decreasing (acceleration)For example, the
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acceleration of a the 2 kg mass cart was 16.1 cm/s^2, the acceleration of the 4 kg mass
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cart was 8.0 cm/s^2 and the lowest acceleration was from the highest mass car (6kg)
which was 5.3 cm/s^2.The cart was placed on a surface with no friction, but if that factor
were manipulated, the experiment itself would drastically change. Further
experimentation could include adding the same amount of friction to each trial while
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keeping other variables controlled to explore the effects of friction on an objects

acceleration.

Conclusion:

The hypothesis: “If the mass of a cart increases, then the acceleration of the cart

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 decreases when the force applied to the cart is held constant, because mass and
acceleration are inversely proportional to each other according to Newton’s second law.”
was supported by the findings in this experiment. The data presented in the tables
above were clearly in accordance to the hypothesis. Because of an increase in mass,
the acceleration of the cart was shown to decrease; the greater mass generated a
decrease in velocity which resulted in decreasing acceleration. Since the increase in the
cart's mass caused the decrease in the cart's acceleration, mass and acceleration are
inversely proportional to each other, which is in accordance with Newton's second law
(A= f/m). Possible sources of error could include the need to to increase the number of
trials underwent. Producing more accurate numbers of measurement for the data by not
rounding and recording exact figures could also have been performed to ensure the
validity of the experiment. The factors mentioned above, shouldn't have affected the
results of the experiment too heavily because overall data did show a trend in direction
and helped to produce a conclusion. In order to further explore this problem more trials

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could be completed with notion to reduce possible human error. In further trials, more
mass intervals could be added (0 kg- possibly 8 kg) in order to more accurately draw a

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conclusion from the research question.

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