Moon Project

Materials: Computer, Vernier LoggerPro

Product:One project per group. Final project on a google presentation. One slide for each bold section, points are awarded for completion and succinctness.

PreLab:

What is the acceleration due to gravity on the earth?

What is the acceleration due to gravity on the moon?

We have videos that show man walking on the moon; what evidence is there supporting the idea that man didn’t walk on the moon?

Hypothesis:

If the acceleration due to gravity is______then we know the “moonman” was on the[ Earth/Moon ]because______

Procedure:

  1. Start LoggerPro. Choose “Insert” and then from the dropdown menu choose “movie. . .”
  2. The moon movie is in my computer, then student shared folder, then physics. The file is “moonclips” You should see a moon man.
  3. Click on in the video window to expose all the tools if necessary.
  4. Play the movie and then rewind.
  5. Choose the segment of the video you want to use. Advance the movie until the astronaut is first in the air, not touchingthe ground at all!!
  6. Click on the . A new graph will appear on your screen. KEEP IT!
  7. Center the curser on the moonman’s head and click. A dot will appear on your screen.
  8. The film will automatically advance to the next frame so you can click again.
  9. Continue to collect data (click) until just before the object lands again.
  10. You should now have a graph with two different colored data points, one for horizontal (x) and the other for vertical (y). Click on the y axis label and select the y graph only. You should now have only a rainbow shaped graph. IF NOT, TRY AGAIN!

Data Collection:

  1. Now you need to scale your graph by measuring the moonman in the video. Click on the yellow ruler . Put the cursor at the top of the head then click and drag to the bottom of the feet. You should see a line show up on the movie and the y axis should change to y(meters). Assume the moonman is 2.0meters tall. Enter 2m in the dialog box.
  2. To find the acceleration of the person’s head we need to calculate the slope of which graph? ______
  3. Click on the y axis label and change to aY velocity graph. You should now have one downward slope.
  4. Highlight (drag and click) on the data points. Click on the R= button to find the slope of the whole line.

The slope of the velocity graph is the acceleration.

Analysis:

Critically analyze your data.

a)Make a bar graph with three values, acceleration due to gravity on earth, on the moon, and on the video.

b)Does the data show the man was on Earth, the Moon, or neither?

c)Is one set of data enough to support a conclusion? How much data should you take? (don’t ask your instructor, this is your decision!!)

Error?

Of course, error cannot be eliminated. What are sources of error in this lab?

How different was your measurement than the moon’s gravity (look up the actual value if you haven’t already)?

% difference from actual acceleration = ______

|actual – experimental| / actual x 100%

Conclusion:

Product: One project per group. Final project on a google presentation. One slide for each bold section, points are awarded for completion and succinctness.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: Repeat this process for a film of your choice to see if the video is real. Examples are a youtube “stunt” or movie special effect.

PhysicsMoonman Free Falledited12/25/18