Directed and Guided Inquiry: Testing Galileo's Conclusion

Statement of Inquiry:
How can we show using an experiment that Newton’s Second Law is correct?
Task Description:
This task includes:
Direct Inquiry: Testing Newton’s Second
Guided Inquiry: Considering the choice of variables and effects of friction

Connection to the Statement of Inquiry:

This inquiry will help you understand the fundamental mental reason that objects change their motion - a
Net Force.

Background Information
Is Newton’s second law correct? What is the relationship between the force on an object and the
acceleration that the object receives from the force? The goal of this lab is to verify that Newton’s second
law, F = MA is correct. You will design an experiment to test your prediction for the Mass of an
Accelerating object that is being acted on by a Force.

The Experiment
The diagram shows a good way to conduct your experiment. You must think carefully about how you will
set up the experiment and what you measure before you experiment. An important question to consider
is how to measure the acceleration without using Newton’s Second Law.

One way to measure a is by using the equation of motion, where u is the initial velocity and t is the
change in time. U is 0 (starting with a motionless cart). Since the string is attached to both the weight and
the cart, when the weight falls to the ground it will travel a distance s that is equal to the height (h) of the
weight. The cart will travel the same distance down the ramp as the weight on the string falls. We must
make sure to release the cart from the same position each time (a piece of tape would be helpful to mark
the correct spots). So, if we measure the time, t can solve for a because we have s. In this case. In this
case, s would be a controlled variable.
It is a challenge to measure T. You could use a camera to video the cart’s motion with a timer visible in
the video. You should do it several times (at least 3 times) for EACH mass/weight on the string+cart
combination and get a good average.
Direct & Guided Inquiry
Ask a Question: (B, i) Write your Research question below it should be specific and include your
independent and dependent variables.
Research question: Testing if Newton’s Second law is correct or not
Hypothesis: (B, ii)
Describe how your experiment will answer your research question and what you expect to find. Consider:

● What forces are acting on your cart/mass system? Draw a force diagram to show this.

● What do you expect to happen? Explain why you think this will happen.
● What results do you expect to find?
● How will you know if your hypothesis is correct?

The force of the gravity and buoyancy cancel each other out and only the friction and pull force is left. If
the mass is superior to the cart’s, the friction force should be inferior to the pull force and hence the cart
should advance and move towards the edge of the table. However if the cart is heavier than the mass,
then the pull force will be inferior to the friction force which therefore makes the cart motionless.

My hypothesis is that the acceleration and the mass of the object times together gives us the force and to
prove it, I will try experiment where I change the mass of the cart and the mass pulling it and then create
a graph where I put all my data and it should create a linear line.

Choice of variables: (B, iii) Make sure you name your variables and explain why you have chosen them.
How have you made sure this is a fair test? Describe how sufficient, relevant data will be collected.
Factors that could affect an object’s acceleration:
 ● Mass
● Weight force
● Friction
● Slope of ramp

Describe the dependent, independent, and controlled variables used in your experiment, (B, iii)
Dependent variable = Speed/acceleration

Independent variable = Weight of the cart, weight of the stuffed masses.

Controlled variables = Length of the cart’s distance starting point

I chose my independent variables by thinking what could impact the acceleration of the cart which is the
weight of itself and the mass pending on the pulley and it is a fair test because we had the cart at a
distance of 60cm for each experiment and the weight we used were precisely weighted on the scale
although the scale isn’t the most accurate, it is still valid and reasonable precision.
We did three times each of the same weight on the cart and the mass one the rope. (Hence 9 times in
total). It is a fair test because of the distance being the same and the weight having just a bit of difference.

Materials & Procedure: (Design and Test the Hypothesis) (B, iv)
What materials will you use during the experiment? Explain why you chose them and include any
research you did to help you make your choice. Describe how you will carry out your experiment. Include
any steps you took to make sure that it was a fair test. As well as how you have made sure that your data
will be accurate. Include a diagram or photograph of your experiment setup.
 We took a cart and put him at 60cm away from the table edges’ while
having a pulley attached on the table with a string where weights can
be placed on both the cart and the string. The weights we used got
measured precisely on the scale

Collecting and Recording Data

Observations: (C, i)
Include a correctly labeled table which is clear and easy to understand. Include any measurement errors
that you recorded.

Possible measurement errors can include the point recorded per average which does leave some time
un-recorded but overall it is still quite accurate and precise. The rope of the pulley also has friction which
may cause the cart to be decelerating and hence not having its exact acceleration but that’s just a detail.
In the data, we also ignored the mass of the cart
Graphs Mass on One point Acceleration Force
Cart/Weight recorded (Slope) (F=M x A)
every
(average)

20 car, 10 0.02 0.3946 7.892

weight second

20 cart, 10 0.03 0.3123 6.246

mass
20 cart, 10 0.02 0.3985 7.97
mass

10 car, 20 0.05 1.134 11.34

weight

10 car, 20 0.05 1.118 11.18

weight
10 car, 20 0.03 0.3463 3.463
weight

0 car, 10 0.02 0.3463 0.3463

weight

0 car, 10 0.03 0.5097 0.5097

weight
 0 car, 10 0.02 0.5904 0.5904
weight

Data Analysis: (C, ii)

Describe the relationship you found between your chosen variables. Use your results to create a graph
with Force on the y-axis and acceleration on the x-axis. Explain what the graph shows you about the
relationship between the two variables.

Due to the fact that I changed laptop hence I didn’t have time to download loggerpro again which made
me not access and export all the data and points of the graph into a table which made me not know the
acceleration unless I guess it by looking at the graph but the approximation and the errors would be huge
and way too overall. Therefore I used the slope of each graph I had which gave me their acceleration. I
then used the equation F=M x A where F was the weight of the mass, M the mass of the cart and A being
the acceleration. The first three graphs were quite reasonable but then the data got a huge difference
between the answer I awaited and the one I got. I reflected for a moment to think about all the possible
errors I could have made and thought about some graph having a drastic ending which can be caused by
the hit on the pulley when the mass on the weight is too superior to the cart’s or if each point being
recorded had too big of a gap which made the slope not accurate enough.

On practically all graph, there is a linear line with sometimes a big negative parabola but that’s due to the
collision of the cart on the pulley so it is irrelevant. Hence their is a clear relationship between the
acceleration and the force which can make us conclude back to Newton’s second law which is F=M x A.

Conclusion
Discuss how true your hypothesis was (C, iii) based on the results of your scientific investigation. (Is
your hypothesis correct?) Remember to use data/evidence to back up your statements.
Example: Why is my hypothesis true/false? According to my graph (figure1), it indicates that …
Discuss your conclusion (C, iii) Remember the goal of this experiment is to show that Newton’s Second
Law is true, has your experiment done this? Explain why you think it has or hasn’t. Be specific and cite
examples from your data and observations to support your conclusion. (C, iii)

The beginning data did show this and prove Newton’s Second Law because the answer from my equation
and the answer it is suppose to show are approximately really close. However as said before, the data for
the others graphs didn’t really work out.
Example, 0.3985 was the slope or in other words, the acceleration. I then times that by M or in other
words, the mass of the cart, which gave me 7.97 which is quite close to 10. But then on the others graph,
the answer had a way too big difference to be able to prove Netwon’s Law right.
But even without precise data, we can still observe the linear relationship and line created on the graph
which can still lead to question about the relationship between acceleration and the mass of the object.
Especially on the forth graph, where the line was practically straight.

Discuss how good your method was (C, iv) Use a comparison with an expected or accepted value to
find your percentage error. (How good was your design?) Talk about experimental/systematic errors and
random errors. What could be your experimental error? (Error from the procedure). What could be your
random error? (Errors made by you) – make this a good answer, not a short one. Remember to use data/
evidence to back up your statements.

My design wasn’t that good in terms of precise data although the graph were right. They were linear apart
from the end but that’s due to the collision. The procedure has two main groups. The setup and material
and the instrument used to mesure. The setup such as the weight of the cart being neglected or the
rope’s friction also being ignored can be some experimental errors. While the instrument used to measure
can have errors because I used a phone to film and it might not be the most precise and accurate
instrument to use for an experiment lasting less than five second per tries.
Random errors can include when doing the loggerpro software, the point on the graph might not have
been exactly correct when importing the video into the software. Another random errors could be if the
cart was exactly 60cm maybe a bit more or less but that shouldn’t bother the results too much.

Describe improvements (C, v) to the method that would get better data to answer your question. (Do
NOT write the following: do the experiment more times, ask other groups, Google, ask your teacher, find
answers in your textbook) – make this a good answer, not a short one.

Better data can be by doing the following. Making the experiment more times but by changing both the
independent and dependent variables. Also if possible, change the way of how the experiment is done.
For instance the mass of the cart could be added in and the friction of the rope and the cart too. Use
different surfaces and try to minimize the friction and other factors than can lead to minimal errors.

Discussion and Further Investigation: (C, v)

What applications do you think the results of your experiment might have? Where could they be used?
How could they be used? Who might be interested in knowing about your experiment?

These results could be used in car compagnies. For instance if they want to create a heavier car, they
would need to consider the following. The friction being increasing due to the mass, the acceleration also
needs to be superior to a lighter car. But why a heavy car then? Well heavier car can lead to a better
engine, gas supplement space, and establishes authority and your social status and class but that’s just a
detail and secondary.

Your team:
Please discuss the involvement of your partner members in designing and performing the experiments in
this lab. On a scale of 1 to 5, how well do you rate the work of each of your team members?

I think Alex Ma deserves 5 because he was the one who did all the graphs which I am eternally grateful
towards him for because I am still unsure about how to use that software.

Charo deserves a 3~4 because she was the one measuring every weight and changed each of them if
they weren’t a round number (Refer to the pictures of weight when presenting the experiment). Thanks to
her, the weight are way more precise which makes the experiment more ethical and working.