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Newton's Cart Lab

This document describes an experiment to explore the differences between speed, velocity, and acceleration. Speed is defined as distance traveled over time and does not include direction. Velocity includes both speed and direction, with displacement replacing distance. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity over time. The experiment involves collecting motion data from a cart rolling down and back up a ramp using a motion sensor to analyze graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration over time.

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Martin Meier
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97 views4 pages

Newton's Cart Lab

This document describes an experiment to explore the differences between speed, velocity, and acceleration. Speed is defined as distance traveled over time and does not include direction. Velocity includes both speed and direction, with displacement replacing distance. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity over time. The experiment involves collecting motion data from a cart rolling down and back up a ramp using a motion sensor to analyze graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration over time.

Uploaded by

Martin Meier
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name_______________________

Speed, Velocity and


Acceleration Lab
In this lab, we will explore the differences between speed, velocity, and

acceleration.

SPEED vs. VELOCITY

Suppose you are running a race and you want to impress a friend by telling them
about it. If you only tell your friend that you ran your race in 20 minutes, that’s not
enough information for them to know if you ran fast or slow. You would also need to tell
your friend how far the race was. A 5 kilometer race in 20 minutes is pretty fast, but a
100 meter dash in 20 minutes is…. not so fast. What your friend wants to know to see if
you ran well is your speed. They will need two things to find your speed: 1) the distance
you traveled and 2) the time it took you to travel that distance. Speed is calculated by
dividing your distance by your time.

Speed = Distance/Time

Now imagine that you are trying to impress a friend by saying that you once
swam 100 meters in 65 seconds in a really fast-moving river. This is pretty impressive,
considering the world record for a 100m swim is 45 seconds! But wait...if the river was
moving fast, were you swimming into the current or with it? I mean, swimming with the
river current, anybody can do that! This is an example of when the direction matters.
Velocity is speed of an object in a particular direction. If your velocity was moving INTO
the current, then you’re pretty awesome, but if it was in the same direction as the
current, you’re just an average swimmer. Velocity is calculated in the same way as
speed, except you must include the direction. In the case of velocity, distance is
replaced with displacement, which is distance in a certain direction from a starting
location.

Velocity = Displacement/Time
1. You run 100 meters in 15 seconds. What is your speed in m/s?

2. In a race, you run 3000 meters east in 21 minutes. What is your velocity in km/min?
(there are 1000 meters in a kilometer)

3. You walk forward 10 meters, backwards 5 meters, and then 10 meters forwards in
15 seconds. What is your average velocity over this time in m/s?

ACCELERATION

Many times in sports, people can run fast, but it may take them a while for them
to get to their top speed. If you are chasing after a soccer ball, but you are not very
quick, you may not get to it before your opponent. The rate that you change your speed
or velocity is called acceleration. Just like velocity, acceleration must have a direction.

Average Acceleration = (Final velocity — Starting velocity)/Time

Often, we see this in car advertisements that say, “This car can go from 0 to 60 in
4.2 seconds!” The final velocity is 60, the starting velocity is 0, and the time is 4.2
seconds.

4. What would the average acceleration be for a car at a stoplight that speeds up to 20
m/s in 10 seconds (in m/s2 )?

5. Imagine that a car traveling at 100 m/s must slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a
raccoon. If it takes 4 seconds for the car to slow down to a stop, what is its
acceleration (in m/s2 )?
Lab procedures:

For the first part of this lab, you will be rolling a cart down a ramp away from a
motion sensor attached to our lab quests. Before running the tests you need to make
some predictions on the motion.

Predictions:
On graph paper, sketch a position vs. time graph that represents what you expect to see
on the screen of the lab quest as the cart rolls down the ramp.

Next to that graph, sketch a velocity vs. time graph that represents what you expect to
see on the screen of the lab quest as the cart rolls down the ramp.

Questions:
1. From looking at the data collected, was the cart accelerating? How do you know?

2. What was the final velocity of the cart before it was stopped at the bottom?

3. Calculate the average acceleration of the cart using the method from the previous
page.

4. Draw a rough sketch of an acceleration vs. time graph as the cart rolled down the
ramp, then compare it to the acceleration graph on the lab quest.

For the second part of this lab, you will give the cart an initial push towards the
motion sensor from starting from the bottom of the ramp. The cart should return back to
its starting location as it goes up and down the ramp. Before running the tests you need
to make some predictions on the motion.

Predictions:
On graph paper, sketch a position vs. time graph that represents what you expect to see
on the screen of the lab quest as the cart rolls up and down the ramp.

Next to that graph, sketch a velocity vs. time graph that represents what you expect to
see on the screen of the lab quest as the cart rolls up and down the ramp.

Questions:
5. From looking at the data collected, was the cart accelerating? How do you know?

6. What was the velocity of the cart right after it received its initial push up the ramp?
What was the final velocity of the cart before it was stopped back at the bottom?

7. Calculate the average acceleration of the cart using the method from the previous
page. Compare this value to the one you calculated from the last set of data.

8. Draw a rough sketch of an acceleration vs. time graph as the cart rolled down the
ramp, then compare it to the acceleration graph on the lab quest.

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