Freefall acceleration determination post-lab
1. After all results are posted take an average for each ball.
2. Are there any individual values that differ from the average value by more than 30%? Which ones? Show calculations. These are “outliers”. Outliers are experimental values that differ greatly from the median values.
3. Remove the “outliers” and recalculate the acceleration of each ball with the remaining values.
4. The accepted value for the acceleration of gravity at sea level at the equator is 9.80 m/s2downward. Find the percent error in your recalculated averages.
5. Early results are showing accelerations smaller than the accepted value. Does that type of error result from times that are too small or times that are too large? What are POSSIBLE sources of error that could cause these smaller than accepted accelerations?
6. Because of the fact that the time is squared in the equation we are using, small errors in the time calculation cause a larger error in the acceleration calculation. Using the accepted value of 9.80 m/s2, calculate the time it should have taken for the baseball to fall from rest 1 meter. What is the percent error between your experimentally determined time and the calculated “accepted time”?
7. What is the % difference between the calculated average acceleration of the baseball and the calculated average acceleration of the tennis ball.
8. Do you think this size difference can be explained away as experimental error, or do you think this is a significant difference? Support.
9. According to accepted science, the acceleration on both balls should be equal in the absence of air resistance. If we factor in air resistance,
a. Which ball would experience a greater force of air resistance?
b. Which ball’s acceleration would be affected more by the force of air resistance?
c. Would the air resistance cause a greater or smaller acceleration?
d. Could air resistance account for any seen differences between the two accelerations?
10. Using the average accelerations of the two balls, calculate the times it should have taken each of these balls to fall from rest one meter. What is the percent difference between these two values?