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Name: Mr. Scaralia

TITLE: The effect of ramp angle on velocity

ABSTRACT:

Velocity is a measurement of an object’s changes in position over time. It is a vector quantity meaning
that it has both a magnitude and a direction. In this experiment, we calculated how the velocity of a cart
changes as we increase the angle of a ramp the car travels down. We discovered that the velocity of a
car increases faster when put on a ramp with a higher ramp. At a high angle, we calculated an
acceleration of nearly 750 cm/s^2. At a low angle we calculated a velocity of approximately 200 cm/s^2.
We determined that errors associated with the experiment did not drastically affect the results. In the
future, we would measure how different surfaces affect the car’s velocity.

PURPOSE AND HYPOTHESIS:

The purpose of this experiment was to calculate the gravitational acceleration of a car moving down an
inclined track and test whether the value remains constant when distance between points of measured
velocities is increased. We hypothesize that the acceleration of the car will be drastically greater at a
high ramp as compared to a low one.

BACKGROUND

Velocity is a vector quantity. This means that, as opposed to speed, it has both a magnitude and
direction. (Wong et al.) The direction aspect of it will contain information on which way the object was
travelling. For example, an object with negative velocity could be travelling backward or forward in the
opposite direction of what is defined as positive.

Acceleration is calculated from an object’s velocity, and is thus also a vector quantity. The acceleration
of an object can be calculated by dividing the change in velocity of an object at two different time points
by the time period over which the measurements were taken. (Wong et al.) If there is an object moving
with a constant velocity, by knowing the location of an object at each time point you can determine the
velocity of the object. If there is a constantly accelerating object, you can determine the average velocity
if you know the initial and final or the final instantaneous velocity via a graph or kinematic relations.

An object falling down a ramp has two separate components to its velocity: one for the x direction and
one for the y. If there is no outside force adding acceleration to an object on a ramp, such as a rocket,
friction, or an engine, acceleration will only be pointed downward. This is the acceleration due to
gravity. (Wong et al.) If we ignore the effects of friction, since the acceleration vector of objects on a hill
only has a magnitude in the y direction, objects on steeper hills will accelerate faster. This is because
direction of motion is more in line with the force that is causing the acceleration, in this case gravity.

PROCEDURE:

1. Attach the SmartTrack to the fifth hole from the bottom of the physics stand
2. Position Photogate A at 10 cm and photogate B at 20 cm.
3. Connect ethernet cables from photogates into the back of the DataCollector.
4. Select Time Mode on the DataCollector’s home screen
5. Select interval function by tapping the “I” icon.
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6. Place the car at the top of the SmartTrack and roll it down the ramp. Begin stopwatch
immediately after the cart interceptor passes through the first gate and stop immediately after
it passes through the second.
7. Record the times tA and tB as measured by the DataCollector and the time recorded by the
stopwatch as the ΔtAB value.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 with Photogate B at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 cm.
9. Repeat the entire experiment with the SmartTrack set to the highest hole
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DATA:

Distance Velocity at Velocity at

between Time through Photogate A Time through Photogate B Acceleration
Thread Height Photogates Photogate A (cm/s) Photogate B (tB) (cm/s) Time from A (cm/s^2)
number (cm) (cm) (tA) (s) (CALCULATED) (s) (CALCULATED) to B (tAB) (s) (CALCULATED)
5 28 10 0.0262 38.2 0.0135 74.1 0.182 197
5 28 20 0.0270 37.0 0.0102 98.0 0.3 203
5 28 30 0.0257 38.9 0.0084 119 0.382 209
5 28 40 0.0263 38.0 0.0076 132 0.464 201
5 28 50 0.0274 36.5 0.0067 150. 0.543 207
5 28 60 0.0262 38.2 0.0062 161 0.601 204
5 28 70 0.0259 38.6 0.0057 175 0.655 208
5 28 80 0.0272 36.8 0.0054 185 0.717 207
#DIV/0! #DIV/0! #DIV/0!
19 105 10 0.0144 69.4 0.007 143 0.099 741
19 105 20 0.0149 67.1 0.0054 185 0.161 733
19 105 30 0.0142 70.4 0.0044 227 0.206 761
19 105 40 0.0140 71.4 0.0039 256 0.246 752
19 105 50 0.0161 62.1 0.0035 286 0.295 758
19 105 60 0.0141 70.9 0.0032 313 0.318 759
19 105 70 0.0140 71.4 0.0032 313 0.348 692
19 105 80 0.0140 71.4 0.0028 357 0.377 757
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The effect of gate distance on calculated acceleration

800.0

700.0

600.0
Acceleration (cm/s^2)

500.0

400.0 Low ramp

High ramp
300.0

200.0

100.0

0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Distance between gates (cm)

ERRORS AND UNCERTAINTIES:

There were two main sources of uncertainty in this lab: distance and time. When setting up the
photogates, it was assumed that the distance between them was exactly the distance set by the
protocol. However, minor differences between what was set and what was expected would lead to
discrepancies between expected and measured results for the acceleration. The usage of a stopwatch in
the experiment also could have lead to inaccurate, imprecise data collected. Human reaction times are
not as exact as that which is capable by the photogates that were used to measure times for calculating
the velocities at each photogate. The possible inaccurate times collected by the stopwatch were used to
calculate the acceleration and thus could have skewed acceleration data calculated.

There were also sources of systematic error that could have contributed to the miscalculations in the
acceleration. The experiment was done over two separate days at two separate stations. Although the
DataCollectors were verified as in working condition on each day, possible inherent differences in the
DataCollectors introduced a variable that could have skewed the results. The non-consistency of the
track usage was a significant source of systematic error. Each track is not used the same amount of
times. Therefore they have different erosion patterns that introduced variability in the friction between
the car’s wheels and the track.

CONCLUSION:

It was determined that the acceleration at the lower stand incline was 201 cm/s^2 and the acceleration
at the highest incline was 756 cm/s^2. These values were constant when the distance between the gates
was increased. Given uncertainties in the times measured by the stopwatch, differences in wheel-track
friction, and experimentation across separate days, all of which could have skewed the acceleration
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calculations, the data gathered in this experiment confirm our hypothesis that carts going down ramps
at larger angles would attain higher accelerations.

FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS:

Future experiments would involve testing how mass affects the velocity measured. We could compare
these values to the values measured here to determine if mass is a factor in the car’s velocity. We
hypothesize that weight will not affect the maximum velocity because gravitational acceleration does
not depend on mass. We would also try to create a model for the average velocity as the car approaches
a vertical drop to determine the velocity of a free-falling object. We hypothesize that the velocity
measured will approach free-falling velocity asymptotically. Lastly, we would examine the effect of
surface material on the car’s acceleration. We hypothesize that surfaces with larger static and kinetic
coefficient values would result in the lowest measured velocities.

WORKS CITED:

Wong, Grace, et al. Introductory Physics: Classical Mechanics. University of Arizona Open Textbooks,
2022. https://opentextbooks.library.arizona.edu/classicalmechanics/.