Inclined Lab
Purpose
Calculate the acceleration along an inclined plane
Materials
computer, meter stick, protractor, track, collision cart, motion detector, graphing software, small box (tissue box)
Procedure
Arrange the equipment so a freely rolling cart SLOWLY accelerates along the inclined track.
Set up
Elevate one end of the ramp about 5-10 cm and place the motion detector at the top of the ramp.
Sketch
Draw a sketch below of how the equipment will be set up. Identify all necessary measurements on the sketch.
FBD
Draw an FBD of all the forces acting on the cart while rolling freely along the track. Ignore friction.
Derive
Derive an equation for the acceleration as a function of the angle.
Calculate
Calculate the acceleration along the incline. (Show your work.)
Calculated Acceleration: _________________ m/s^2
Do NOT let the cart fall off the lab table.
Measure
When ready, roll the cart along the incline and measure the acceleration using a a motion detector.
Using the graph analysis features measure the acceleration.
NOTE - The detector gives garbled data if the object is close than 30 cm.
Measured Acceleration when traveling UP the incline: _________________ m/s^2
Measured Acceleration when traveling DOWN the incline: _________________ m/s^2
Do NOT let the cart fall from the table/track onto the floor.
Place the cart in the blue tray when done so it won't roll off the table and onto the floor.
Analysis
If the calculated and measured values are different, explain the difference.