The free fall experiment
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Here is a simulation of the Free Fall apparatus. The drawing is not to scale, and we have also slowed down time.
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The above points were for general lab reports. Specifically, for the Galileo lab report:
Your abstract should mention what you actually did in your experiment. The terms falling, acceleration, and gravity are important. What were your actual results? What does theory say you should get?
Your introduction needs to use a primary source. You should mention Galileo and his historical role in what you are about to present. You may mention other historical figures. You should define velocity and acceleration. You should explain the equation for the Law of Falling Bodies and provide a derivation of that equation. You should explain the connections between inertia, Newton’s 1 st Law, gravity, weight, Newton’s 2 nd law, and why g is constant for all objects.
Your procedure needs to provide explicit details of the experiment and how it was performed. Do not present results. Make sure you have annotated or explained diagrams, photos, or sketches.
Your analysis needs to have a data table with an explanation. You should have a graph of the position data with a best quadratic fit. There must be an equation and an explanation of the graph. You should be able to show your calculation of g from that graph, and an error comparison to published values. You should explain possible sources of error.
Your conclusion should recap the big ideas (acceleration and gravity) you showed. You should recap the procedure, results, and errors (briefly). You should have proposals for future work.
Your appendix should include the bibliography (with primary sources), tables, graphs, pictures, sample calculations, etc.
1…Aristotle Physica Mugar Q151 .A7 F29 Q151.A8 B65 1998 Q151.A7 F69
2. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica , by Newton
Three Laws or Axioms PDF p 89 (p83 of the book)
Newton’s Law of Gravitation PDF p 224 Section XII (Propositions 70-84) (p 218 of the book)
PDF p 400 Proposition 6 to 8 Book 3 p 394-398
3 rd Law and Collisions PDF p98 Scholium
3 rd Law and Attraction PDF p98 Scholium
Galileo Project http://galileo.rice.edu/index.html
3. On motion, and On mechanics; comprising De motu (ca. 1590) translated with introduction and notes by I. E. Drabkin, and Le meccanniche (ca. 1600) translated with introduction and notes by Stillman Drake QC123 .F60
4. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Mugar QB41 .F67
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-Galileo.html
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/dialogue.html
http://archimedes.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/toc/toc.cgi?step=thumb&dir=galil_syste_065_en_1661
5. Dialogues Concerning Two New Science s by Galileo Galilei. Mugar QC123 .G13 1974
Introduction has historical time line of Galileo’s work in the early 1600s.
3 rd and 4 th Day
197 Naturally Accelerated Motion
205 Postulate on speed vs height
209-210 Law of Falling Bodies Note it uses Geometry as opposed to algebra
213 Inclined Plane experiment
274 Idea of parabolic paths of projectiles (inertia)
275 Air Resistance
276-7 Concept of Uniform Acceleration
286 Acceleration g is the same everywhere on Earth
6. AJP Article on the exact correction to Galileo’s free fall law Only the first two pages
Secondary Source: Hewitt Conceptual Physics P 50 Derivation of Law of Falling Bodies P65 Explanation of acceleration and g
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October 10, 2013
Showing Science: Watch Objects in Free Fall
A physics problem from Science Buddies
By Science Buddies
Key concepts Physics Free fall Forces Gravity Mass Inertia
Introduction Have you ever wondered how fast a heavy object falls compared with a lighter one? Imagine if you dropped both of them at the same time. Which would hit the ground first? Would it be the heavier one because it weighs more? Or would they hit the ground at the same time? In the late 1500s in Italy the famous scientist Galileo was asking some of these same questions. And he did some experiments to answer them. In this activity you'll do some of your own tests to determine whether heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones.
Background In fourth-century B.C. Greece the philosopher Aristotle theorized that the speed at which an object falls is probably relative to its mass. In other words, if two objects are the same size but one is heavier, the heavier one has greater density than the lighter object. Therefore, when both objects are dropped from the same height and at the same time, the heavier object should hit the ground before the lighter one. Is this true?
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Some 1,800 years later, in late 16th-century Italy, the young scientist and mathematician Galileo Galilei questioned Aristotle's theories of falling objects. He even performed several experiments to test Aristotle's theories. As legend has it, in 1589 Galileo stood on a balcony near the top of the Tower of Pisa and dropped two balls that were the same size but had different densities. Although there is debate about whether this actually happened, the story emphasizes the importance of using experimentation to test scientific theories, even ones that had been accepted for nearly 2,000 years.
Materials • Two balls of the same size, but different mass. For example, you could use a metal and a rubber ball or a wooden and a plastic ball, as long as the two balls are about the same size. If two spherical balls like this are unavailable, you could try something like an apple and a similar-size round rock. • A ladder or step stool • A video camera and a helper (optional)
Preparation • You will be dropping the two balls from the same height, at the same time. Set up the ladder or step stool where you will do your test. If you are using a heavy ball, be sure to find a testing area where the ball will not hurt the floor or ground when it lands. • If you are using a video camera to record the experiment, set up the camera now and have your helper get ready to record. • Be careful when using the step stool or ladder.
Procedure • Carefully climb the ladder or step stool with the two balls. • Drop both balls at the same time, from the same height. If you are using a video camera, be sure to have your helper record the balls falling and hitting the ground. • Did one ball hit the ground before the other or did both balls hit the ground at the same time? • Repeat the experiment at least two more times. Are your results consistent? Did one ball consistently hit the ground before the other or did both balls always hit the ground at the same time? • If you videotaped your experiments, you can watch the recordings to verify your results. • Can you explain your results? • Extra: Try this experiment again but this time use balls that have the same mass but are different sizes. Does one ball hit the ground before the other or do they hit it at the same time? • Extra: Try testing two objects that have the same mass, but are different shapes. For example, you could try a large feather and a very small ball. Does one object hit the ground before the other or do they hit it at the same time? • Extra: You could try this experiment again but record it using a camera that lets you play back the recording in slow motion. If you watch the balls falling in slow motion, what do you notice about how they are falling over time? Are both objects always falling at the same speed or is one falling faster than the other at certain points in time? Observations and results Did both balls hit the ground at the same time?
You should have found that both balls hit the ground at roughly the same time. According to legend, this is what Galileo showed in 1589 from his Tower of Pisa experiment but, again, it's debated whether this actually happened. If you neglect air resistance, objects falling near Earth’s surface fall with the same approximate acceleration 9.8 meters per second squared (9.8 m/s 2 , or g ) due to Earth's gravity. So the acceleration is the same for the objects, and consequently their velocity is also increasing at a constant rate. Because the downward force on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by g , heavier objects have a greater downward force. Heavier objects, however, also have more inertia, which means they resist moving more than lighter objects do, and so heaver objects need more force to get them going at the same rate.
More to explore Elephant and Feather—Free Fall , from The Physics Classroom Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 166: Galileo's Experiment , from John H. H. Lienhard, University of Houston Video: Fall of 2 Balls of Different Weights , from Matthias Liepe, Cornell University What Goes Up, Must Come Down: Conduct Galileo's Famous Falling Objects Experiment , from Science Buddies
This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies
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COMMENTS
Before conducting this experiment, hypotheses were made to what was predicted to happen in the experiment. The group came to a consensus and claimed for the object in free fall, in this case a weight, will have increasing velocity so that the end result graph will be a positive linear graph. ... Free Fall Lab - Free Fall Lab; Lab Report 5 ...
A new suspension/release mechanism for a free-fall experiment is described. Its design makes it possible to measure time intervals to ±10 μs in free-fall-from-rest experiments.
Free fall Objectives Acceleration is the rate at which the velocity of an object changes over time. An object's acceleration is the result of the sum of all the forces acting on the object, as described by Newton's second law. Under ideal circumstances, gravity is the only force acting on a freely falling object. In this lab, you
their fall times, one can calculate their accelerations by Equation 8. About 400 years ago, Galileo showed that the acceleration experienced by all free-falling objects is independent of their mass. In this experiment, you will do the same. 2.1 Procedure 1. Convince yourself that the two metal balls have di erent masses.
Introduction: The Behr Free Fall apparatus produces a written record of a freely falling object's position at equal intervals of time. The falling object is called the \bob". The bob falls a distance of about two meters. Falling from rest this would allow for a total time of ight t = p 2y=g ˇ0:6 seconds, where y is the distance of fall ...
Release the red button only after the plummet strikes the catching device. Turn the spark timer power switch off. Unclip the paper tape at the back of the apparatus and pull the paper through until you have the full portion with spark dots. Tear off the section you have used. Clip the end of the paper tape to the clip.
1. Place a foam pad on the floor and hold a ball so that it is the desired height from the floor. Assume the uncertainty in the measured distance to be a radius of the ball. 2. Use a stopwatch to record the time of the fall. It's best to have one lab partner drop the ball and another do the timing. Assume the uncertainty in the timing to be ...
Projectile motion is a special case of uniformly accelerated motion in 2 dimensions. The only acceleration is the acceleration due to gravity with a magnitude of 9.80 m/s2 directed down toward the center of the Earth. In projectile motion there is no acceleration in the horizontal direction. Equations in "x" direction (usually the ...
second bounces. From the kinematic equations, we expect the velocity of the basketball during free fall to be described by an equation of the form v = At +B: a. inear equation. Select the velocity data between the first and second bounces and choose "Linear" from the curve fit menu to obtain the slope of the velocity-time graph (.
Divide each ∆v by ∆t to get the calculated amount of acceleration for each ∆v. Take the average of the nine acceleration values to get the average acceleration for each run. For Data Tables 2.2 and 2.3 write the average value of a in the margin to the right of row #10. Data Table 2.1 Free Fall Run Number One ∆t = 60 s.
Free fall adapter Balls, 13 mm and 19 mm Meter stick (or metric tape measure) PURPOSE The purpose of this laboratory activity is to measure the acceleration of a falling object assuming that the only force acting on the object is the gravitational force. THEORY One equation describing the motion of a body starting from rest and undergoing constant
modifies and extends Newton). The main objective for this experiment is to calculate the acceleration "g" of a free falling object manifested due to the force of gravity. In addition to this objective, this experiment will also determine if mass or the distance that an object falls influence the gravitational acceleration that object ...
You are asked to use the "frictionless theory" of the free fall. Hence, the formula describing the motion of the body is: s = v 0 * t+ (g/2)* t 2. where s is the distance the body travels during the time t of the fall between the photogates, v 0 is the initial velocity (at the 1st photo-gate), and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
Lab 2. ree Fall. Free FallGoals• To determine the effect of mass on the motion of a. falling object.• To review the relationship between position, velocity, a. d acceleration.• To determine whether the acceleration experienced by a freely falling object is constant and, if so, to calculate the magnitude of t.
Lab Report 3: Free Fall. JJ. Department of Physics, University of North Texas PHYSICS 1430. 501 ... In the lab experiment, this theory was tested by dropping a picket fence through a photogate. Each time a single bar, on the band, passed through the Photogate, a measurement of its velocity, time period, and acceleration was recorded. These ...
In this experiment you will use the free fall of an object to determine the acceleration due to gravity g. A secondary goal of the experiment is to study the effect of air resistance. The fitter will return values and errors for a0, a1 and a2. a0 is the value of the initial position, a1 the value of the initial speed, and a2 one-half of the ...
Experiment 2: Free Fall Analysis time interval over which our measurements were taken we have an estimate of the uncertainty in the value for g. Report: In addition to the standard elements of a well written lab report described in the introduction to this manual, your report must include: 1) An appropriate title.
Lab 1 Free Fall experiment p007: acceleration due to gravity (free fall adapter) equipment needed science interface clamp, right angle base and support rod free ... Experiment FREE FALL LAB Report; Reference 1 - freefall summer 2020; Sample 1 - FREE FALL LAB Report ... THEORY. One equation describing the motion of a body starting from rest and ...
Free fall lab report. The above points were for general lab reports. Specifically, for the Galileo lab report: Your abstract should mention what you actually did in your experiment. The terms falling, acceleration, and gravity are important. What were your actual results?
Past Papers. Edexcel. Spanish. Past Papers. CIE. Spanish Language & Literature. Past Papers. Other Subjects. Revision notes on 2.1.6 Acceleration of Free Fall Experiment for the DP IB Physics: SL syllabus, written by the Physics experts at Save My Exams.
Procedure Figure 1. Experimental setup (1) Roll out a fresh (unused) portion of the paper strip and tape it to the pole of the free-fall apparatus in a vertical position. (2) Switch on the power supply for the electromagnet and place the steel tip of the free-fall object at the lower end of the electromagnet, which holds the object in place. Make sure the object is stationary.
In this experiment two different massed metal balls were used to find the time it takes to fall from the heights of 1, 1, 0, 0, and 0. Based on these times the average acceleration could be found to see if Galielo's theory that both the heavy and light balls will fall at a constant acceleration of 9/s^2 is correct.
If you neglect air resistance, objects falling near Earth's surface fall with the same approximate acceleration 9.8 meters per second squared (9.8 m/s 2, or g) due to Earth's gravity. So the ...