Bowling Ball Lab

Racing Down the Incline Lab Name______Period____ Date_____

Concepts Developed: Data Collection, Accuracy, Precision, Errors, Graphing Skills, Acceleration and Velocity

Introduction: In this lab you will measure the positive acceleration of a car down an inclined path. With the measured times and positions you will calculate the velocity and acceleration.

Equipment Required: Inclined board, meter sticks, watches, stopwatches, graph paper, rulers

Set up: Mark off 0.1m intervals for 1 m.

Procedure: 1. Place the race track board on an inclined position. 2. Put the car at the top at the start line. 3. Let go of car and start the timer at the same time. 4. Time the car to the different lengths along the board and fill in the data table 5. Compute the velocity and acceleration through the track.

Formulas: Velocity = x / t Acceleration = v / t

Student Product (for each student) : 1. Major lab write-up. See the separate lab report procedure. 2. 3 graphs on graph paper: graphs should be at least ½ page in size a. A position vs. time graph. b. A velocity vs. time graph c. Acceleration vs. time graph.

1 Trial Time Position Velocity Acceleration Comments 1 0 0 0 0 Start line 0.2 m 0.4 m 0.6 m 0.8 m 1.0 m

2 0.2 m 0.4 m 0.6 m 0.8 m 1.0 m

3 0.2 m 0.4 m 0.6 m 0.8 m 1.0 m

Average 0.2 m 0.4 m 0.6 m 0.8 m 1.0 m