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Physics Lab On Free Fall (High School Level)

This lab experiment measured the acceleration due to gravity by dropping a ball from a height and timing its fall with three stopwatches. The average time of fall was calculated and used with the drop distance to determine the ball's average velocity and acceleration. The calculated acceleration of 6.3 m/s^2 differed from the accepted value of 9.81 m/s^2, with a percent error of 35.77% attributed to air resistance acting on the ball during its short fall.

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Kartik Ugemuge
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294 views

Physics Lab On Free Fall (High School Level)

This lab experiment measured the acceleration due to gravity by dropping a ball from a height and timing its fall with three stopwatches. The average time of fall was calculated and used with the drop distance to determine the ball's average velocity and acceleration. The calculated acceleration of 6.3 m/s^2 differed from the accepted value of 9.81 m/s^2, with a percent error of 35.77% attributed to air resistance acting on the ball during its short fall.

Uploaded by

Kartik Ugemuge
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IA LAB 

Finding average acceleration of free fall and 


calculating %Error 

PURPOSE : In this lab we had to let a ball go for a free fall from a certain height and
record how long it would take to reach the ground. Then after calculating once average
time and its uncertainty is known speed can be found out using SUVAT equations.
Once this is done, then the acceleration of gravity “g”, can be determined. Then this
determined value will be used to calculated the percentage error of it when compared to
the general acceleration used, which is 9.81 ms^-2. These errors could be caused by
the wind resistance.

PROCEDURE​ (Data collecting method)


● You will require a tennis ball (or any other object which is safe to throw), 3 timers,
3 volunteers (optional) and a measuring tape.
● Find a place to throw the tennis ball from, take the measuring tape to measure
the distance from where you will leave the ball for free fall and to the ground
level. Make sure to use a distance from the ground at least in meters so it is
easier to determine other factors.
● Then keep 3 volunteers ready each with a timer. Have one timer standing with
you and two others at the ground level. This is done so that random error can be
reduced and the average time and its uncertainty will be found.
● Release the ball; without applying extra force to it. Make sure all the three timers
are on as soon as the ball is released, stop the timers when the ball hits the
ground and take the readings in all three digital time meters. Repeat this step 5
to 10 times, as earlier mentioned to reduce random errors.
DATA COLLECTION:

Time for the ball to land on the ground


Timer 1 ( s +/- Timer 2 ( s +/- Timer 3 ( s +/-
0.01) 0.01) 0.01)
0.94 1 0.94
0.93 1.09 0.94
1.09 1.16 1.03
1 1.13 0.94
0.94 1.07 0.91
1.12 0.97 1.13
0.97 1.08 0.97
0.75 0.91 0.94
1.06 0.84 1.05
1.05 0.79 0.94
Average time for each of the 10 reading ( s +/-
0.01)
0.99 1 0.98

As shown above, total 30 readings were taken to reduce random errors as much as
possible. Some reading above are quite different than a usual range this would cause
an error in the final average time.

DISTANCE : 6.18 m (+/- 0.5cm)

Processed data calculation

Average velocity Acceleration Original


Average time Total Distance (ms^-1)(+/- 0.16 (ms^-2)(+/- 0.22 Acceleration
(s)(+/- 0.01 s) (m)( +/- 0.1 cm) ms^-1) ms^-2) %Error (ms^-2)
35.77
0.99 6.18 6.24 6.3 % 9.81
DATA CALCULATIONS​ (Sample Working)

● Average time : (Taking average of all readings from the 3 stopwatches)


○ (0.99+0.98+1.00)/3 = 0.99 +/- 0.01 s
○ Uncertainty = +/- 0.01 s
● Velocity :
○ V = Distance/Time
○ V = 6.18/0.99
○ V = 6.24 ms^-1
○ Uncertainty = (%uncertainty of time + %uncertainty of distance) * 6.24
○ Uncertainty = +/- 0.16 ms^-1
● Acceleration
○ (V-U)/t
○ 6.24/0.99
○ 6.30 ms^-2
○ Uncertainty = (%uncertainty of velocity + %uncertainty of time) * 6.3
○ Uncertainty = +/- 0.22 ms^-2
○ %Error = ((9.81-6.3)/9.81)*100
○ %Error = 35.77%

CONCLUSION
My experiment consisted of dropping a ball from a height and taking the time it takes to
reach the ground. The acceleration that was found was not equal to the original
gravitational acceleration (9.81). Thus there was a %error. This could have been
caused mainly by air resistance that acted upon the ball. As that would resist it to reach
its terminal velocity at such a small distance. And some minor errors could have been
caused if the person leaving the ball did not do the job properly and gave it a push
instead of leaving it to free fall. But the main reason was the air resistance.

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