Experiment-06

Newton’s Second Law

of Motion
PHYS170-L
Introductory physics laboratory
Instructor: Musallam Tabook

Date of Experiment:
28-04-2024
Section: 01
Student ID: Student Name:
202311305 Manar Yaqoob Al-Senaidi
202220175 Maria Said Al Saidi
202111051 Alyamama Mohsin Al-Ibrahim
202312449 Shayma Khamis Alsatmi
Theory:
Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that establish the
science of body movement. These laws link the forces affecting the body
to its movement. These laws are very important because they are the
basis of classical mechanics, one of the main branches of physics. Isaac
Newton was the one who established these laws, and he used these laws
to explain many physical systems and phenomena. That is, we can say
that Newton's laws play a major role in explaining most of the
phenomena and things that we see in our daily lives.

Newton used these laws to explain and investigate many physical

phenomena. Newton showed that these laws, in addition to the law of
universal gravitation, are able to explain Kepler's laws of planetary
movement, and these laws are still among the most important physical
laws to date.
Introduction:
In this Experiment, The cart is pulled by the mass when released from
rest, we use the stopwatch to note how long each added mass affect the
speed of the cart.
Each time we add different masses to the cart to measure the relationship
between the mass and the acceleration of the cart.

Experiment Objectives:
➢ Verification of Newton's second law
➢ Study the effect of mass on acceleration
➢ Study the effect of force on acceleration

Formula:
1 2d
1. d = 2 aE t 2av , which gives, aE = t2av

2. The total mass: Mtotal = m1 + m2 . Here, m1 is the mass of the cart

along with the masses added to it. And m2 is the hanging mass.

FNET m2
3. aN = = (M ) g
Mtotal total
Apparatus:
▪ Dynamics Cart
▪ Pulley and Pulley clamp
▪ Mass set
▪ Stopwatch
▪ String
▪ Paper Clips
▪ Block
▪ Meter-Scale
Dynamics cart Pulley and Pulley clamp Mass set

Stopwatch String Meter-scale

Procedure:
o We set the distance the cart will travel to 90cm = 0.9m
o The fixed hanging mass doesn’t change (m2 = 20g)
o The cart has a mass of 250g .
o We start by setting up the pulley and cart and add masses to the
cart as the experiment progresses.
o We measure the time every time we vary the masses on the cart to
calculate the acceleration.

Precaution:
❖ Be aware of human error, as the time to response on the “start” and
“stop” can vary from person to person. So, we try to be as accurate
as possible by doing several trails.
❖ Fix the chooser distance carefully, as change in distance might give
wrong measurements.
❖ Careful of choosing the right masses in the right order to not mix
up the calculations.
❖ Try to get the least error percentage possible.
 Observations/ Result:
1. The cart has a mass of. = 260g

2. The hanging mass (Fixed). = 20g

3. Fixed Distance. = 90cm = 0.9m

Total 𝒂𝑵
𝒂𝑬 =
Mass Trial- 𝑭𝒏𝒆𝒕
R Trial-1 Trial-2 Trial-3 Trial-4 𝒕𝒂𝒗 𝒕𝟐𝒂𝒗 = 𝟐𝒅
5 𝑴𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍
u
𝑴𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝟐 𝒈 𝒕𝟐𝒂𝒗 % Error
n s s s s s 𝒔𝟐 =( )
s 𝑴𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍
𝒎/𝒔𝟐
g 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
250 +
0.726 0.74
1 20 = 1.47s 1.53s 1.53s 1.59s 1.67s 1.56s 2.43 1.92%
𝒎/𝒔𝟐 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
270
250 +
20 +
2 1.69s 1.68s 1.75s 1.68s 1.69s 1.7s 2.9s 0.6125 0.62 1.22%
50 =
320
250 +
20 +
3 1.85s 1.99s 1.75s 1.69s 1.72s 1.8s 3.24s 0.529 0.55 3.96%
100 =
370
250 +
20 +
4 1.98s 2.00s 1.98s 1.99s 2.05s 2.0s 4.0s 0.417 0.45 7.9%
200 =
470

❖ While experimenting, we noted that as we add more mass to the car, the acceleration
lessen as it takes more time to finish the distance than it was with lighter weight where it
becomes really fast. And that can be observed clearly according to the graph.
Calculations (‫)الحسابات‬:
First, calculating “ aN ” :
Second, Calculating “𝒂𝑬’’ :
Conclusion:

In conclusion, our experiment on Newton's Second Law of

Motion reaffirmed the principle that the acceleration of an object
is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely
proportional to its mass. The data collected supported this
relationship, demonstrating the law's validity in our
experimental setup. However, discrepancies observed may be
attributed to friction, air resistance, or measurement errors.
Newton's Second Law can be used in daily life, as every law
that exists in the field of study of physics is created based on the
phenomena that occur in our daily life, so it is natural that we
find the use of Newton's Second Law in daily life even if we do
not know it. An example of this is a truck carrying less mass will
have greater acceleration than a truck carrying more mass.
Another everyday example of Newton's Second Law of Motion
is seen when pushing a shopping cart. The harder you push
(increasing the force), the faster the cart accelerates (increasing
acceleration) provided the mass of the cart remains constant.
Conversely, if you push with less force, the cart accelerates more
slowly. This illustrates the direct relationship between force and
acceleration, as described by Newton's Second Law.
Reference:
1. PASCO Instructional Manual,
https://www.pasco.com/products/lap-manuals.
2. Physics for scientists and engineers with modern physics, 8th
Edition, by Raymon A. Seaway and John W. Jewett, Jr.,
Brooks/cole-CENAGE Learning, 2010, ISBN: 9781439048757.
3. Moodle, https://moodle1.du.edu.om/
4. Connected Masses: https://www.toppr.com/ask/question/two-
unequal-masses-m1-and-m2-are-connected-by-a-string-which-
passes-over-a/.
5. Newton’s Second Law,
PASCO, https://www.pasco.com/resources/blog/53
6. Newton’s Second Law,
PASCO, https://www.pasco.com/products/complete-
experiments/mechanics/ex-5503.