KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

(K.N.U.ST)

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES

AN EXPERIMENT TO INVESTIGATE A CONSTANT FORCE USING THE AIR

TRACT

NAME: AKPAGLO FORSTER TORNYELI KWABLA

INDEX NUMBER: 4289820

PROGRAM: BSc METEOROLOGY AND CLIMATE SCIENCE

EXPERIMENT NUMBER: 25

1
 TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE NUMBER

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….

DIAGRAM OF SET UP…………………………………………………….

METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………........

OBSERVATION TABLE………………………………………………….

THEORY……………………………………………………………….......

CALCULATIONS………………………………………………………….

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION……………………………………………

ERROR ANALYSIS…………………………………………………….....

PRECAUTION…………………………………………………………….

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………..

2
 ABSTRACT.

The purpose of the experiment was to investigate a constant force which is given by Newton’s
second law of motion, a statement relating mass as well as acceleration. The law states that
acceleration is proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to the mass. Mass of the
glider was weighed and recorded. Distance from glider to the other end of the track was 1.5 m
and labeled ×1 and ×2. A string was tired to one end of the glide and a mass of 20 g attached to
the end of the string. 20 g of mass was added to the glider and with the aid of the air blower the
glider was set to complete the 1.5 m distance and the time taken measured and recorded and the
acceleration with intervals of 20 up to 200 g were used and the same procedure was applied on
the masses individually. A graph of the acceleration was plotted against the inverse of the
masses. After plotting the graph the slope was calculated which stands as the force and the error
deduced was 0.22 N and the 0.22±0.05 respectively.

3
 INTRODUCTION.

The principle of frictionless motion have been understood for over some years now. A scientific
device used to study motion in a low friction environment was invented in the mid-1960s at the
California institute of technology by professor Nehr and Leighton which was named as air track.
This device offers a substantial frictionless surface to verify Newton’s second law of motion.
According to the Newton’s second law, an inverse relationship exists between mass and
acceleration when a constant force is applied on different mass. For a body with a constant
velocity implies that the force applied is constant, therefore, in this experiment we will study the
motion of an air tract glider when a constant force is applied to it. The experiment demonstrates
the significance and verifies the Newton’s second law of motion. We therefore involve ourselves
in trying to produce and maintain a constant force in order to analyze the accelerated motion by
applying a definition of acceleration as rate of change of velocity. A reasonable forces shall be
produced by hanging a small weight as shown in figure 1. If the mass of the weight is much
smaller than the mass of the glider, then the force will be reasonably constant even when the
glider mass is varied.

4
 DIAGRAM OF SET UP

5
 METHODOLOGY.

1. Measure the mass of the glider

2. Tie one end of a string to the glider and hang a small mass (~3 g) at the other end of the string
across the pulley such that the string is taut.

3. Mark points x 1∧x 2 on the track such that the distance between them is about 1.5 m.

4. With the air blower at a maximum of 4 press the gun to initiate the motion of the glider along
the air track.

5. Measure the time the glider takes to move from x 1 to x 2.

6. Compute the acceleration a, from equation (1)

7. Add masses M=10 g, 20 g…200 g to the glider and in each case measure the time for the
glider to move from x 1 to x 2.

8. Compute the acceleration a, in each case.

9. Tabulate your readings.

10. Plot a as a function of 1/M.

11. Find the slope of the linear portion of the graph.

12. What is the significance of the value of the slope?

6
 OBSERVATION TABLE.

Results of values of investigating a constant force using the air track.

Mass of glider = 190.0 g

Mass(kg) T1(s) T2(s) T3(s) T(s) a(m/s) 1/M(kg-1)

0.21 1.38 1.38 1.22 1.30 0.89 4.78

0.23 1.39 1.38 1.34 1.37 0.80 4.35

0.25 1.40 1.41 1.37 1.39 0.78 4.00

0.27 1.39 1.42 1.47 1.42 0.74 3.70

0.29 1.55 1.56 1.65 1.59 0.59 3.45

0.31 1.67 1.64 1.71 1.67 0.54 3.23

0.33 1.72 1.67 1.74 1.71 0.51 3.03

0.35 1.79 1.77 1.76 1.77 0.48 2.86

0.37 1.88 1.82 1.81 1.84 0.44 2.70

0.39 1.96 1.84 1.95 1.92 0.41 2.56

7
 A graph of a/ms^-2 against 1/m kg^-1
12

10

8
a/ms^-2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

1/m kg^-1

8
Fig. 2 A graph showing the relationship between acceleration and inverse mass

THEORY AND CALCULATION

The equation F=ma is so well known that it is almost part of folklore; however, the more familiar
applications assume that the mass, m is a constant and relate the force F to accelerate a. if, on the
other hand, the force is constant, one should be able to show that the product ma is also constant.
To do so one can plot a as a function of (1/m) and look for the slope of this graph which can be
F. the advantage of this graphical procedure is that it ought to yield a straight line. If the force is
not constant, the line should start to curve suggesting that certain assumptions about one of the
variables are no longer valid.

Acceleration is defined as a rate ar which velocity is changing; and for this we will try to make
measurements that rely closely upon the definition.

We will not, however, attempt to measure instantaneous acceleration which is applied by the
limit in the definition. Instead, we will assume that acceleration is constant, so that the change in
velocity during some convenient finite interval ∆t is all that is required.

For start point x 1and end point x 2, the acceleration can be computed as

a=¿ (1)

Where ∆t is the time glider takes to travel the distance x 2−x 1.

9
 CALCULATION

(x 2−x 1)
The acceleration in each case is calculated from the expression a= 2
∆t

Where x2-x1 =1.50 m

1.50
If ∆t=1.30 a= 2 = 0.89 ms
-2
1.3 0

1.50 -2
If ∆t=1.37 a= 2 =0.80 ms
1.37

1.50
If ∆t=1.39 a= 2
=0.78 ms-2
1.39

1.50
If ∆t=1.42 a= 2
=0.74 ms-2
1.42

1.50
If ∆t=1.59 a= 2
=0.59 ms-2
1.59

1.50
If ∆t=1.67 a= 2
=0.54 ms-2
1.67

1.50
If ∆t=1.71 a= 2
=0.51 ms-2
1.71

1.50
If ∆t=1.77 a= 2
=0.48 ms-2
1.77

1.50
If ∆t=1.84 a= 2
=0.44 ms-2
1.844

1.50
If ∆t=1.92 a= 2
=0.41 ms-2
1.92

CALCULATION FOR 1/M

10
 1 −1
M 1= =4.76 kg
0.21

1 −1
M 2= =4.35 kg
0.23

1 −1
M 3= =4.00 kg
0.25

1 −1
M 4= =3.70 kg
0.27

1 −1
M 5= =3.45 kg
0.29

1 −1
M 6= =3.25 kg
0.31

1 −1
M 7= =3.03 kg
0.33

1 −1
M 8= =2.86 kg
0.37

1 −1
M 9= =2.70 kg
0.37

1 −1
M 10= =2.56 kg
0.39

CALCULATION FOR SLOPE

Δa 0.85−0.45
Slope= = =0.22
Δ 1/m 4.60−2.75

Slope = Force hence Force = 0.22N

11
 ERROR ANAYSIS

Using acceleration to find the error;

0.89+0.80+ 0.78+0.74+ 0.54+0.54 +0.5+0.4

Mean ( a )=
10

a=0.618

Using standard deviation

a/ms−2 a-a (a -a )
0.89 0.27 0.0219
0.88 0.18 0.0324
0.78 0.16 0.0250
0.74 0.12 0.0144
0.59 -0.03 0.0009
0.54 -0.08 0.0064
0.51 -0.11 0.0121
0.48 -0.14 0.0196
0.44 -0.18 0.0324
0.41 -0.21 0.0441

.S.D =
√ ∑ (a−a)2
N ( N −1)

12
 =
√ 0.2608
10 (10−1)

= 0.054

Error = ± 0.05

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The experiment was to investigate a constant force using the air track. The results table was
taken by varying the masses on the glider and recording the time taken and also computing the
accelerations. For each of the masses of 0.21Kg to 0.39Kg the time taken was repeated trice in
order to get an accurate average of time. We again saw that as the mass is increased the time
taken too increases. The graph of a as a function of 1/m plotted yielded a slope and that slope
was the constant force which is 0.22N. Most of the points plotted were in a straight line but few
deviated and this suggest that some variables were no longer valid. The error of ±0.05 had may
be as results of inaccurate experiment set-up and or inaccurate taken of readings when
performing the experiment. The table shows the variation of the acceleration at different time
range

13
 PRECAUTION

1. Care was taken to prevent the sliding of the glider on the track while the supply was turned on

2. The air blower was usually switched off immediately the mass on the glider covered the
distance of 1.5m

3. It was ensured that the added masses to the glider was done symmetrically to prevent the
glider from being lop sided

14
 CONCLUSION

In the experiment we did and described how acceleration is proportional to the force and
inversely proportional to the mass as predicted by Newton's second law. The experiment was
basically about producing a constant force with mass and time taken and displacement which
was used in calculating the acceleration. The straight line that we got after drawing the line of
best fit through the point plotted shows we maintain a force, thus constant force was produced.
Therefore the procedure for investigating a constant force using the air track is recommendable

15
 REFERENCE

 Regional,M.N,David W.,Smith and Van-Dyke,(2021),Laboratory manual in

Experimental Physics I, Department of physics K.N.U.S.T,Experiment 25

 htt://www.paulding.K12.ga.US>Domain

 htt://www.en.m.wikipedia.org>wiki>Air_track

16
 ANSWER TO QUESTION

The significance of the value of the slope is the net force of the system which is the constant
force in Newtons.

17