ACCELERATION DUE TO

GRAVITY

ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES
DR3L 34

Ishan Sharma
2148139

Kayleigh Ferguson
02/05/2023
Table of Contents
Purpose of the assignment....................................................................................................2
Theory:.......................................................................................................................................3
Apparatus:..................................................................................................................................4
Method of testing:.....................................................................................................................5
Results........................................................................................................................................6
Evaluation and analysis..............................................................................................................9
conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

Purpose of the assignment

To derive g in the acceleration due to gravity using a falling mass to accelerate a vehicle
along a level track
Theory:

The acceleration due to gravity test is used to quantify the acceleration that a body
experiences because of gravity. Typically, the test is conducted by dropping an object from a
predetermined height and timing how long it takes to reach the ground. The following
formula can be used to determine the acceleration caused by gravity from this
measurement: a = 2h/t2.
where "t" is the amount of time it takes for the object to descend, "h" is the height from
which it was dropped, and "a" is the acceleration brought on by gravity.

Equations
The following equation will be used to determine the theoretical force
Force = mass * acceleration (f = m* a)

Where:
- F = force
- M = mass
- A = acceleration
The eqution to calculate the acceleration is as follows:
Acceleration = force / mass
Now due to the friction less track, T horizontal =T vertical
Therefore
Mg= (M+m)a

To find the kinetic energy = ½ mv2

Workdone (W.D) = force * distance
Potential energy (P.E) = mgh
a
Angular acceleration: a=
r
Apparatus:
 linear air track
 Low friction air track
 Blower unit
 Vehicle
 Velcro weights for adding to vehicle.
 Pulley cord
 Weights and weight hook
 Measuring scales
 Two light gates to measure the speed of the vehicle.
 Computer software to interact with the light gates and record results.
Method of testing:
 Set up the equipment as illustrated in figure 1.
 Ensure the air track is level and the pulley is moving freely.
 Set the light gate position so that the vehicle passes through both before the pulling
mass hits the floor. Measure the distance between the light gates.
 Measure the length of the vehicle.
 Switch PC on and load up Easy sense software.
 Set the software up to measure the velocity at both light gates and the time for the
vehicle to travel between the light gates.
 Load up the vehicle to the maximum mass of 200g
 Put a total mass of 20g on the end of the cord holding the trolley.
 Switch ON the air supply.
 Release the trolley and record the velocity at Light Gate A and Light Gate B as well as
the time in between. Record results on Table B.
 Repeat steps for seven times with the different masses.
 Repeat for increments of 20g up to maximum of 100g.
Results

Practical table results:

Mass-m Mass-M Total mass Velocity at Velocity at Time(s) Acceleration (M+m)*a

(kg) (kg) (M+m) A B (m/s2)
(m/s) (m/s)
0.02056 0.21228 0.23284 0.680 1.181 0.714 0.701 0.163

0.03074 0.21228 0.24302 0.821 1.438 0.589 1.047 0.254

0.04087 0.21228 0.25315 0.934 1.641 0.517 1.367 0.346

0.05103 0.21228 0.26331 1.026 1.808 0.470 1.663 0.437

0.06123 0.21228 0.27351 1.110 1.954 0.435 1.940 0.530

0.07142 0.21228 0.2837 1.173 2.078 0.410 2.207 0.626

0.10193 0.21228 0.31421 1.333 2.374 0.360 2.891 0.908

To find acceleration : mg = (M + m)a

v−u
‘a’ = t = (0.21228+0.02056)0.701

1.181−0.680
= = 0.163N
0.714

0.501
= 0.714

= 0.701m/s2#
To find kinetic energy:

1 2 2
K.E =
2 M(V2 -V1 )
=
0.5 * 0.10193(2.3742-1.3332)

= 0.1966 J

Work done: Force * distance

= 0.908 * 0.659
= 0.5983 J

Potential energy:
PE= mgh
= 0.31421* 9.16* 0.659
= 1.896 J

Angular acceleration:

a
 α = r

= 2.891/11*10-3
= 262.81 rad/s 2

This formula was used to determine the force provided to carry out further calculation
with a sample of the force calculation shown below:

F= ma
F= 0.020156* 9.81
F= 0.2016 N

Using this for all the mass values we get the following forces:

Theoretical Results:
Mass(kg) (x-axis) Acceleration due to gravity Force (N) (y axis)
(m/s2)
0.02056 9.81 0.2016
0.03074 9.81 0.3015

0.04087 9.81 0.4009

0.05103 9.81 0.5006

0.06123 9.81 0.6006

0.07142 9.81 0.7006

0.10193 9.81 0.9999

Theoretical and Practical graph

Evaluation and analysis
Comparison of theoretical and experimental results

As seen above the experimental results and the theoretical results differed in values. The
experimental acceleration due to gravity values were lower when compared to the given
acceleration due to gravity in the theoretical values same with the force values. There might
be several reasons to have different values, there might be measurement errors , an
instrument errors because it was not on the straight surface there might be some different
while measuring, even while we were doing were experiment the two light gate were keep
moving it might leads us to the wrong values. The experimental setup may not perfectly
match the theoretical model being use. For example if the theoretical model assumes that
the experiment is being conducted in an vacuum, but in reality there is air resistance or
friction, this can lead to differences between the theoretical and experimental values. The
values can be less than what would be expected theoretically if there were errors in the
experimental measurements. Environmental factors, human error, measuring instrument
error, and other causes of error can all affect experimental measurements. These mistakes
may compound and lead to lower experimental results. There is around 10 percent different
in forces values comparing to theoretical and experimental values. The theoretical values
has 10 percent higher than the experimental values.
Conclusion
The results differed from theoretical to experimental due to various sources of errors such as
the air track might not be on the level cause it was not on the flat surface, the light gates
were keep changing their position because of the vehicle passing on the high speed it keep
touching the light gates causing the light gates to move their position, there might be not be
enough air passing though the air track , some holes on the air track might be blocked,
By enabling a vehicle to accelerate along an air track while being pulled by gravity, this
experiment proved that acceleration for objects close to the surface of the planet is
constant. Finding the slope of a graph that shows the vehicle's observed velocity at various
points along the track against time can be used to compute acceleration. Gravitational
acceleration is 9.81 m/s2 in theory. For this experiment, a few potential sources of
inaccuracy should be noted. The little lower average acceleration than anticipated might be
brought on by clogged air holes in the track, a vehicle that is a little dusty, A more precise
answer might have been obtained by measuring the track's length and height to more
decimal places.

Overall the experiment has met its purpose in finding the acceleration due to gravity in both
theoretical and experimental therefore it may be stated that this experiment was successful
in its purpose.
References
- https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~jharlow/teaching/phy151f13/exp1.pdf

- https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1DKin/Lesson-5/Acceleration-of-Gravity

- http://web.mit.edu/rsi/2012/minisubmit/idobre/main.pdf.gz#:~:text=The%20height
%20from%20which%20an,gravity%20is%209.8m%2Fs2.
-