FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

AS222
PHY400 LAB REPORT
EXPERIMENT 3: ACCELERATION DUE TO GRAVITY

NAME AUNI SAKINAH BINTI NOR HASNAN

MATRIK NO 2022887772

CLASS GROUP AS2221MI

LECTURER’S NAME DR. ZAKIAH MOHAMED

LAB PARTNER NURAIN NADHIRAH BINTI ZAKUAN

DATE OF EXPERIMENT 2/11/2022

DATE OF SUBMISSION 2/12/2022

OBJECTIVE
1. To determine the velocity of a horizontally projected object (a metal ball) fired from a
spring gun.
2. To use a ballistic pendulum to determine the velocity of a projectile. To verify this
velocity by measuring the range of the projectile.

APPARATUS
1. Ballistic pendulum
Ball bearing
Spring gun
Hollow pendulum
Meter rule
Electronic digital balance

PROCEDURE
1. The ballistic pendulum has been setup as shown in the Figure 2 below.
2. The ball bearing and the hollow pendulum mass are recorded using electronic digital
balance.
3. The ball bearing was placed on the spring gun, pulled back the spring and then was
released.
4. The ball bearing hit the pendulum and the pendulum swayed away.
5. The height of the pendulum that being swayed and catch by the pendulum catcher are
being recorded.
6. This experiment were repeated until the nine trials.
THEORY
Pendulums are relatively simple devices and have been studied since the 17th century. Italian
scientist Galileo Galilei began experiments using pendulums in the early 1600s (Jaebi, 2017).
There are many types of pendulums in this world and different kinds of pendulum serves for
different purposes. A ballistic pendulum is a good, real-life example of the principle of
conservation of momentum. For example. crime lab technicians use a ballistic pendulum to test
firearms, and a wrecking ball's force will bring down a building.

Figure I: Principle of the ballistic pendulum modified from

The ballistic pendulum is a device which, on the basis of momentum of energy conservation,
allows the calculation of the speed of a projectile which engages the, initially resting, pendulum
body by an inelastic collision. The amplitude of the following oscillation is proportional to the
projectile velocity shown in Figure 1.
The derivation of the evaluation formula for the ballistic pendulum is based on principle of the
ballistic pendulum modified from equation [2]. A complete inelastic collision is applied. For
conservation of momentum it holds:

mv0 = (M + m)v (1)

Where;
M = The pendulum mass
v = The speed of pendulum and projectile according to the completely inelastic impact

The kinetic energy of the pendulum is converted into potential energy via the deflection (angle,
a) of the pendulum. It must be noted that the kinetic energy of M + m together after the impact is
somewhat smaller than the kinetic energy of the diablo before the impact. This is because, in
the case of the inelastic collision, energy is used to deform the collision partners.
This energy can be calculated, but it does not play any role in the exact derivation of the
evaluation formula. Therefore, the following applies to energy conservation:
𝑀+𝑚
2
𝑣 2 = (𝑀 + 𝑚)𝑔ℎ (2)

From this velocity follows:

𝑣 = √2𝑔ℎ

Inserting into equation (1) gives:

𝑀
𝑣0 = (1 + 𝑚) √2𝑔ℎ (3)

The angle, a should be measured. Therefore, h is replaced by:

h = lp (1 – cos a)

With lp the pendulum length and & the gravitational acceleration. This gives the formula required
for the evaluation of the planned experiment.

𝑀
𝑣0 = (1 + 𝑚) √2𝑔𝑙𝑝 (1 − cos 𝑎) (4)
DATA AND RESULTS

Table 1 : The data of h2 and u collected after the experiment was carried out.

Trial h2 ± 0.001 (m) h1 ± 0.001 (m) h = h2 – h1 u (m/s)

± 0.002 (m)
1 0.160 0.090 3.741
2 0.175 0.105 4.041
3 0.173 0.103 4.002
4 0.158 0.088 3.699
5 0.160 0.070 0.090 3.741
6 0.168 0.098 3.904
7 0.157 0.087 3.678
8 0.170 0.100 3.943
9 0.172 0.102 3.983
Average 0.096 3.859
CALCULATION

Mass of metal ball, m = 0.0639 kg ± 0.0001

Mass of pendulum, M = 0.1160 kg ± 0.001
Acceleration due to gravity, g = 9.81 m/s2

1. Calculation of velocity, u

Trial Velocity, u
0.1160 + 0.0639
1 × √2 × 9.81 × (0.090) = 3.741
0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.105) = 4.041
2 0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.103) = 4.002
3 0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.088) = 3.699
4 0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.090) = 3.741
5 0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.098) = 3.904
6 0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.087) = 3.678
7 0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
8 × √2 × 9.81 × (0.100) = 3.943
0.0639
0.1160 + 0.0639
× √2 × 9.81 × (0.102) = 3.983
9 0.0639

̃
2. Calculation for average, 𝒖

0.090+0.105+0.103+0.088+0.090+0.098+0.087+0.100+0.102
𝑢̃ = 9
= 0.096 𝑚/𝑠
 ̃)
3. Differences of velocity (u) from the average velocity (𝒖

Trial Differences

1 (0.090 – 0.096) m/s = - 0.006 m/s

2 (0.105 – 0.096) m/s = 0.009 m/s

3 (0.103 – 0.096) m/s = 0.007 m/s

4 (0.088 – 0.096) m/s = - 0.008 m/s

5 (0.090 – 0.096) m/s = - 0.006 m/s

6 (0.098 – 0.096) m/s = 0.002 m/s

7 (0.087 – 0.096) m/s = - 0.009 m/s

8 (0.100 – 0.096) m/s = 0.004 m/s

9 (0.102 – 0.096) m/s = 0.006 m/s

4. Uncertainty of velocity

∆𝑢 ∆(𝑀 + 𝑚) ∆𝑚 ∆ℎ
= + +
𝑢 (𝑚 + 𝑀) 𝑚 ℎ

(0.001 + 0.0001) 0.0001 0.002

∆𝑢 = ( + + ) (3.859)
(0.1799) 0.0689 0.096

∆𝑢 = 0.110

5. Percentage of uncertainty (%)

𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 = × 100%
𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
0.110
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 = × 100%
3.859
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 = 2.85%
DISCUSSION

1. State two physics used to determine the initial velocity of the ball.

There are two physics principles used. Firstly, the principle of conservation of linear
momentum. Momentum is a term that refers to the quantity of motion that an object has
meanwhile the principle of conservation of linear momentum is any interaction or
whenever two or more particles is an isolated system interact, but the total momentum of
the system remains constant before and after collision. This principle canbe seen
through the formula :
The total of initial momentum = the total of final momentum
P=mv

Where;
p = momentum
m = mass
v = velocity

next, the initial velocity can be calculated by using the velocity formula itself, which is
taken from the velocity formula, v= D/T where displacement divided by time taken.

2. Is kinetic energy conserved in this collision? Explain.

The kinetic energy is not conserved in this collision because the total kinetic energy of
the system is not the same before and after the collision. This is shown when the metal
ball sticks together with the pendulum after colliding. Thus, it is said to be completely
inelastic. Although the kinetic energy is not conserved, but the total energy is conserved.

3. Do you think this experiment can be improved? Describe the improvement.

The experiment can be improved by taking the problem during handling this experiment
and improving it. In this experiment, air resistance is the main problem because it can
affect the velocity of the metal ball and swinging pendulum. To overcome this problem,
the pendulum experiment should be run in a closed room with less air resistance such
as the fan to decrease the air resistance which may affect the swinging of the pendulum.

4. Which measurement do you think contribute most to the uncertainty of the result
in this experiment?

From the experiment, the measurement that can contribute to the uncertainty of the
result is the height of the highest level of the pendulum. The highest level may not be
accurately measured if the eye is not at the same level of the ruler. Thus, the exact
height, h cannot be obtained and will contribute to the uncertainty during the calculation.
 5. Can you think of any other way to determine the initial velocity of the staple
bullet?

Another way to determine the initial velocity of the staple bullet is by using the
acceleration formula, aav = (vf – vi)/ (tf – ti). From this formula, we can make new equation
which become vi = vf – aavt where the vi is the initial velocity, vf is the final velocity and it
must be subtract with the aav which is the acceleration ant t is the time. Other
information must be complete so new the initial velocity can be obtained using the
derived formula.

CONCLUSION
The experiment is all about the use of the principles of conservation of energy and momentum
in determining the velocity of the metal ball fired from spring gun through ballistic pendulum. The
apparatus were being setup as shown in Figure 2. This experiment were repeated about nine
(9) times so that we will get more accurate result for velocity calculation. After that, the data are
being calculated to get the uncertainty values for the velocity, u. From the calculation it is being
estimated that the uncertainty of the u, 3.589 ± 0.110 m/s. This value can be accepted because
the percentage of error or percentage of uncertainty only 2.85% which is less than 5%.
According to article by Pearson, any percentage difference that is less than 5%, then it is
indicate that the result is accurate. With this result, we can say that the law of conservation of
energy and momentum were verified in this experiment because there is no external forces
applied in the direction of motion and the used of projectile motion validates it.
PRELAB QUESTIONS
REFERENCES

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astr.gsu.edu/hbase/balpen.html

4. wiki How(28August2019). Retrieved from wiki How:

https://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Uncertainty