Free Fall Lab Report
Free Fall Lab Report
Free Fall Lab Report
Background Information:
- The acceleration due to gravity on Earth is 9.81 m/s
- Any falling object that is within Earth’s gravitational field will
experience this force and react to it
Hypothesis:
- The value of the acceleration will equal to the value of G
Variables:
Independent Variable: The height from which the ball drops
Dependent Variable: The time taken for the metal ball to pass through the light
gate
Controlled Variables:
- The part of the ball that passes through the light gate
- The surrounding wind
Materials:
- DC Power source
- 2 wires
- 2 Clamp stands
- Electromagnet
- Metal Ball
- Light gate
- Vernier lab pro set
- Laptop running Vernier Logger Pro
Procedures:
The average acceleration of the metal ball due to gravity is 9.54 m/s^2 and this
is close to the gravitational constant of Earth as was previously mentioned in the
hypothesis. This is because the distance covered by the ball is relatively small in
order for the air resistance to have a notable effect. The experiment also takes
place within the Earth’s gravitational field and this the acceleration due to
gravity is the only major force acting on the object once it’s been released from
the electromagnet.
Evaluation:
The number of trials could be increased in order to weed out anomalous data.
But overall the data that was collected seems to be mostly accurate as the value
of G it produced was very close to the actual G constant of Earth. However,
there were certain improvements that could be made in order to make the
experiment more reliable/accurate. The experiment should’ve been performed
in a room with the windows closed and the fans/air conditioners switched off.
This is because the breeze that they produce has a chance of shifting the ball
from its projected path.