2D Collisions

Purpose: To show that momentum and kinetic energy will be conserved in a completely elastic collision between 2 objects, where the objects can move in 2 dimensions.

Procedure: An old spark table was used due to the known flatness of the glass used as the top and the fact that the table could be leveled, so that kinetic energy would be constant. A camera was placed above the table. A ball was placed at the center of the table. Another ball was rolled toward the first ball. The camera recorded this motion. The data was then imported into Logger Pro and the and the momentum for each ball in each run was calculated.

Determining a Model For Air Resistance

Purpose: To experimentally determine a model for air resistance of an object. This will be compared with the theoretical model.

Procedure: A laptop was setup on the stairs of the design center, facing the second story balcony. The laptop screen was positioned vertically and parallel to the balcony. The webcam was used to record the decent of a coffee filter. A meter stick was held vertically to provide a scale for the captured video. The drop was repeated for 1 through 5 coffee filters. The video recorded, was analyzed using Logger Pro. The meter stick was used to scale the captured video. the video was advanced to where the filter was free falling. In every third frame of video following, the position of the bottom of the coffee filter was selected to create a set of data points, for the position of the coffee filter as it fell.

Data Analysis: The graph of the position showed the filter falling faster until the terminal velocity was approximated. The terminal velocity was observed by the graph approaching a straight line, where the slope indicates the velocity of the coffee filter. Logger pro was used to do a linear fit of the filter once it reached terminal velocity.

Conclusion: This showed the power of the 

Friction Lab

Purpose: To experiment with static and kinetic friction to gain a greater understanding of friction.

Lab 1 Finding a Relationship Between Mass and The Period for The Inertial Balance

Purpose: To find a relationship between the mass placed in the tray of an inertial balance and the period of the oscillation of the tray, of the inertial balance. Once a relationship is found, using known masses, unknown masses will be used and the mass also recorded using a laboratory balance. The agreement of these variables will determine the validity of the relationship.

An inertial balance was clamped to a lab table. The other end was left free to oscillate with a small piece of masking tape used as a flag to break the beam of a photogate that will be used to measure the period of the inertial balance.

The Pendulum Timer experiment provided in Logger Pro was used to determine the period of the inertial balance.

The experiment was run with weights in the tray varying from 0g to 800g in 100g increments. The period was measured over many oscillations to increase the accuracy of the measurement. This data was then used to calculate the model using the following formula, provided in the lab manual.

\begin{equation}
T = A(m+M_{tray})^n
\end{equation}

The period of the inertial pendulum was plotted against the mass.

The graph was linearized by using the following formula, provided in the lab manual.

\begin{equation}
\ln(T) = n \ln(m+M_{tray})+\ln(A)
\end{equation}

The mass of the tray, Mtray, was varied to obtain the greatest possible fit value. This was then varied over the range that maintained the fit value. 

These values were then used to confirm the model for the inertial pendulum using the period and mass of a cell phone and 3 wooden blocks.

Determining the Period of a Physical Pendulum

Purpose:
Part 1: To calculate the period of a ring while oscillating through a small angle. This will then be compared with the experimental value obtained by using the period timing function of logger pro.

Procedure:
Part 1: The inner and outer diameter were measured and the mass was measured. From this, the moment of inertia was calculated when the ring was rotating about the small notch, which is halfway between the inner and outer diameters. The moment of inertia was calculated. The ring was then hung from a knife edge and a small tape flag was attached to the bottom of the ring. A photogate was used with the oscillation timer from logger pro. The flag broke the beam of the photogate and signaled the timer to count 1 oscillation for every second time the beam was broken.

Data Analysis:
Part 1: