Investigating the value of g using pulleys with masses

m/kg M/kg a/kg M-m (M+m)a

0.5 0.55 0.135352 0.05 0.14212 gradient = g
0.5 0.65 0.507042 0.15 0.583099 g = 5.6 ms^-2
0.5 0.75 0.856901 0.25 1.071127
0.5 0.85 1.192113 0.35 1.609352
0.5 0.95 1.474225 0.45 2.137627
0.5 1.05 1.766761 0.55 2.738479
0.5 1.15 2.062113 0.65 3.402486
0.5 1.25 2.307606 0.75 4.03831

Investigating the value of g

4.5

4
f(x) = 5.58340457619048 x − 0.268036985476191
3.5

2.5
(M+m)a

1.5

0.5

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

M-m

Accepted value of g = 9.80665 m/s 2

5.5834/9.80665 = 0.569
0.569 x 100 = 57% off the accepted value of g

Looking at the graph there doesn’t appear to be any major outliers. However the
data values suggest a line of best fit that does not pass through (0,0) which suggests
there was a systematic error in our expermient. The line of best fit should pass
through (0,0) because when M=m then the system would be in static equilibrium
so a=0. Therefore (M+m)*0 = 0 and (M-m) = 0.