Acceleration Lab
Science Standards: a. Students know a force has both direction and magnitude. d. Students know how to identify separately the two or more forces that are acting on a single static object, including gravity, elastic forces due to tension or compression in matter, and friction. e. Students know that when the forces on an object are unbalanced, the object will change its velocity (that is, it will speed up, slow down, or change direction). f. Students know the greater the mass of an object, the more force is needed to achieve the same rate of change in motion.
Problems:
1) How does the mass of the object affect acceleration?
2) How does the size of the object affect acceleration?
3) How does the material the object is made of affect acceleration?
4) Does doubling the ramp height, double the acceleration?
Hypotheses:
1. If the mass of the object is greater than another object of the same size, will the acceleration increase ,
decrease, or stay the same?
2. If an object of the same material is of a smaller size the acceleration will increase , decrease, or
stay the same?
3. If you have a ball of steel, its acceleration will be greater, less than, or the same of a glass ball.
4. If you double the height of the ramp, than the acceleration will increase , decrease, or stay the same?
Materials: metal bars, rubber bands, books, dry erase marker, meter stick, stop watches, glass and metal marbles
Procedure:
1. Lay the book on the table.
2. Rubber band together two metal rods, and create a ramp by slanting the rods by placing one end on top of
a textbook.
3. Make sure the edge of the book is resting at the 10 cm mark.
4. Mark on the metal rod ramp with a dry erase marker at the following cm marks: 0 cm, 10 cm, 70 cm, 80 cm,
and 90 cm. Ask for the large glass marble. Record the mass of the glass marble.
5. Release the object at the 0 cm (top of the ramp) and time between the 70-90 cm marks only. You are only
timing a distance of 20 cm or 0.2 m. Repeat for 5 times, calculate mean or average.
6. Release the object at the 10 cm and time between the 10-90 cm marks. Now you are timing a distance of
80 cm or 0.8 m. Repeat for 5 times, calculate mean or average.
7. Calculate final speed using s = d/t where d= 0.20 m (70-90cm), and t is the median time.
8. Calculate acceleration using the formula a = (FS-BS)/∆t.
9. Where (FS is the final speed or the speed you found in the .70 - .90 m interval) and (BS is the beginning
speed, which is 0 m/s) t is the time the marble took to accelerate from zero to the final speed or the median
speed you calculated for the second set of measurements (.10m -.90 m). Put all these values into the formula
and calculate the acceleration in m/s/s.
10. Post acceleration for class data.
11. Repeat entire procedure for each of the different balls: small glass , small steel, large steel, and brass
12. Repeat entire procedure for two books. You are doubling the ramp height.
Data:
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass BallMass (g)
1 book / Time to Roll from 70 cm – 90 cm (sec)
Trial # / Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
1
2
3
4
5
Mean (Average)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Final Speed
(show your work
and answer)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Momentum
(mass x velocity)
(show your work
and answer)
1 book / Time to Roll from 10 cm – 90 cm (sec)
Trial # / Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
1
2
3
4
5
Mean (Average)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Acceleration
(show your work
and answer)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Force
(Mass x Accelera
tion) (show your work
and answer)
Acceleration
Class Data / Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Group # 1
Group # 2
Group # 3
Group # 4
Group # 5
Group # 6
Group # 7
Group # 8
Group # 9
Group # 10
Group # 11
Group # 12
Group # 13
Group # 14
Group # 15
Group # 16
Group # 17
2 books / Time to Roll from 70 cm – 90 cm (sec)
Trial # / Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
1
2
3
4
5
Mean (Average)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Final Speed
(show your work
and answer)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Momentum
(Mass x Velocity)
(show your work
and answer)
2 books / Time to Roll from 10 cm – 90 cm (sec)
Trial # / Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
1
2
3
4
5
Mean (Average)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Acceleration
(show your work
and answer)
Large Glass Marble / Small Glass Marble / Large Steel Ball / Small Steel Ball / Large Brass Ball
Force
(Mass x Accelera
tion) (show your work
and answer)
Questions:
1. The marble is released at the 0 cm mark, is the marble’s speed slower, faster, or constant near the end of the
ramp (90 cm) when compared to the speed at the beginning of the ramp (10 cm)? What factor(s) would cause
the speed to change?
2. You may have noticed that it is not easy to begin or stop the stopwatch at exactly the same moment. What features
of our experiment help us acquire better measurements?
3. What force is causing the marble to accelerate down the ramp?
4. Aristotle believed heavy objects fell faster than objects of lesser weight. It is said that Galileo dropped weights of
different mass from the leaning tower of Pisa and they hit the ground at the same time. How does our experiment,
support or not support Galileo’s demonstration?
5. A Mini Cooper starts up the on ramp to the freeway at 15 mi/hr. 8 seconds later it is traveling at 55 mi/hr. What is
the acceleration of the car in mi/hr/sec? Show your work, answer, and units.
6. How fast would the same car in question # 5 be traveling if it continued to accelerate at the same rate for 1 more
second? 4 more seconds? Show your work, answer, and units.
7. A rocket is traveling at a speed of 200 m/s. After a 15 second burn of its engines, the speed increases to 800 m/sec.
What was the acceleration of the rocket? Show your work, answer, and units.
8. How fast would the rocket in question # 7 travel if the engines had burned for 20 seconds instead of 15? Show
your work, answer, and units.
Conclusion