Yamada 1

Kosei Yamada

Cas Deelen

Integrated Science

16 October 2024

How does the surface area of a weight affect the time it takes to be lifted?

A pulley is a simple machine with 3 parts: A wheel, the rope and axle. The rope is what

lets the pulley raise or lower the weight. The axle lets the wheel spin so that the rope can move

freely. A pulley works by changing the direction of the force applied. By pulling the rope down,

the wheel spins around its axle, which allows the object on the other end to be raised, as the

direction of the force has been reversed (Bhuyan). Using two or more pulleys to form a “W”

shape reduces the effort it takes to lift the weight but increases the time it takes, as the weight of

the object gets halved due to the fact that the weight is distributed evenly across 2 ends of a rope.

Pulleys are used to raise objects that would otherwise be almost impossible to lift. A very

recognizable example of a pulley is a crane. Drag is the force of the air resistance on an object

with a specific surface area. Drag can be both useful and detrimental in areas such as

aerodynamic engineering, where drag is required to actually fly, as without drag there cannot be

any lift, which is the force that planes use to fly (I would explain, but it is besides the point). It

can be detrimental as well, as it causes multiple issues when flying supersonically, mainly these

wind vortexes that create unwanted low pressure areas.

I predict that if the surface area of the cardboard increases, then the work and time taken

to raise the weight increases, because if there is more surface area, there is more air resistance,
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(explained in the equation FD=½CρAv2, in which C is the drag coefficient, A is the area of the

object facing the fluid, v is the velocity of object moving in air and ρ is the fluid density)

(Wikipedia contributors). For example, if a piece of paper falls from a building, it will most

likely slow down, because of the air particles hitting the brunt of the paper, which makes it slow

down because the air molecules are pushing up against the paper, which is being pulled down by

gravity. Although the force of gravity is stronger, the air molecules slow down the piece of paper

dramatically. This force pushing up is called air resistance or drag. Think of it as a mathematical

equation: “g” is the gravitational constant and “a” is the drag on the surface area. If g > a, the

object keeps falling, although it gets slowed down. It slows down more depending if the “a” is

closer to “g”. If g = a, the object will not go up or down, it will just stay up there. If g < a, the

object will start moving up. This is the principle rockets operate on, as they need to attain a force

opposite of gravity that exceed the value of the gravitational constant, which is their escape

velocity. Thus, I predict that if the surface area of the cardboard increases, then the work and

time taken to raise the weight increases.

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These are my variables for this experiment:

Type of Variable What is the variable? How will it be manipulated (IV),

measured (DV) or controlled (CV’s)?
Independent Variable The independent variable We will cut the cardboard in order using
(IV) will be the surface area of a ruler to measure, and scissors to cut,
the cardboard. The from biggest to smallest, so we will go
surface areas will be 36 from 100 cm2 to 81 cm2 etc…
cm2, 49 cm2, 64 cm2, 81
cm2, 100 cm2.
Dependent Variable The dependent variable We will use the stopwatch to measure the
(DV) will be the measuring of time taken for the weight to be lifted by
the time, as it depends on another weight. We will also have a
the drag generated by the control test in which we will conduct an
surface area of the the same test but without cardboard,
cardboard square, which although adding another weight
will increase the equivalent to the cardboard, or at least
resistance of the pulley,
close to. We will conduct each test 10
therefore increasing the
times.
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amount of work done for

virtually the same
outcome, so if we have
use the same force to pull
up the weight, it will take
longer.
Control Variables The control variables will We can measure the length of the string
(CV) be the length of the string with a ruler. The height of the pulley will
(60cm), the height of the always be the same no matter what
pulley, the mass of the because the height of the table alway
object being lifted stays the same. We can use a scale to
(because we are measure the mass of the weight.
measuring the work
increase by increasing the
size of the cardboard).

In this experiment the materials I will use are: a stopwatch, pulley wheel & axle, string

(60 cm), Cardboard (~100cm2, 10*10 cm), a ruler, a table (the ones in class), 2 weights (100g

and 150g)

Method:

1. Acquire materials (listed above)

2. Cut cardboard to size (10*10 cm, then cut them smaller)

3. Cut string to size using scissors and a tape measure to measure the length (60

cm).

4. Pass the string through the pulley wheel.

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5. Tie the two weights (100 g and 150 g) on each end of the string.

6. Do a control experiment 3 times and record the results by using a stopwatch. We

do the tests 3 times each, as they give enough detail to make a semi-accurate data

table, whilst not taking up that much time, as we will need it for the down time in

between tests, as there will most likely be some issues. We also do this as it

reduces the risk of random errors occurring. The stopwatch will most likely be

inaccurate, as it is a few tenths of seconds.

7. Cut a hole in the middle of the cardboard, big enough to where the handle can fit

in it and slot it into the handles of the weights.

8. Do the same experiment as the control again but with the cardboard slotted onto

the 100g weight and record it 3 times. There is a need to take into account that

the cardboard might be angled, or the string might pass through the pulley wrong,

as this will obviously not be the most accurate experiment. The cardboard may

also rub against the pulley string and slow it down because of friction.

9. Repeat whilst making the cardboard piece smaller using scissors and a tape

measure, from 100 cm2, 81 cm2, 64 cm2

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Scientific Setup Example:

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*For the bar graph, the error bars are set to 10%

STANDARD 0.033993463 0.078740078 0.032998316 0.012472191

DEVIATION 423952 740118 455372 289246

In the data, we can see that the cardboard does in fact make a difference to decelerate

weight. In the control experiment, the average time it took to raise the weight was 0.323…

seconds, and in the second experiment, the time it took to raise the weight was 0.43 seconds, so

we can see that there is a definite increase in the time taken to raise the weight. But in the next

experiment, although it was predicted that the time taken to raise the weight would decrease, the
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average time was actually the highest of the 4 experiments. This is likely due to an error in our

experiment, but it is interesting nonetheless. The final experiment follows our projected and

hypothesized result, drastically decreasing the time to be raised. In conclusion, most of the time,

when the surface area is increased, the time taken to raise the weight also increases.

Most of my research follows my hypothesis, except for the 81 cm2, which had a higher

time than the 100 cm2, which normally shouldn’t be possible. This is most likely due to the

cardboard sliding and rubbing against the string, producing friction and therefore slowing down

the cardboard, and increasing the time it takes to be raised. It might’ve also been user error,

although it is improbable that Quetzal (the one who was taking the times), would’ve made the

same mistake 3 times.

The CVs were always kept quite constant, because there is not possible way to lower the

table without cutting it, and we measured the string at all times. We used the same weights for

the experiment so they should be fine as well.

The method yielded semi-precise results, as there is no way to get consistent results with

the resources available at hand. There was no guessing, we measured the string precisely and the

stopwatch provided us with the times needed. Although the stopwatch times were probably

around a tenth of a second behind, the pattern would still remain the same.

The distance between the string and cardboard definitely caused an issue, as the friction

generated might’ve slowed down the weight drastically. Another issue was the stability of the

pulley. This issue caused a lot of down and wasted time.

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Next time, I should make sure that we are timing the raising of the weight properly, by

using my camera on my phone and using the timestamps mentioned in the video footage to get

the most precise measurements possible. I should also make sure we don’t have contact between

the cardboard and the string to make sure that the test results are as accurate as possible. I could

also do more experiments, which would result in a more precise average time, and a more precise

experiment in general.
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Works Cited

Bhuyan, Satyam. “Pulley: Definition, Types, Examples and Diagrams.” Science Facts, 18 Jan.

2022, www.sciencefacts.net/pulley.html.

Wikipedia contributors. “Drag Equation.” Wikipedia, 27 Sept. 2024,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation.