Introduction /9

and objectives
Methodology /9
Results /9
Discussions /9
Conclusions /9
References /9
Continuous /6
learning &
information
management
Total /60
Percentage /85%

SF0011
PRACTICAL PHYSICS 1
LAB REPORT
EXPERIMENT: FREE FALL
TUTORIAL: 7
NAME MATRIC NO

AMIRUL BIN ADENAN FS19110316

SYAZA SYAZANA BINTI MUSTAKIM FS19110263

ARIQAH SAKANI BINTI MEDI FS19110290

NURATIQAH BATRSYIA BINTI ASAN FS19110304

BRENDON LAI WUI HSIUNG FS19110532

DATE OF EXPERIMENT: 16/07/2019

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 23/072019

DEMONSTRATOR: SIR ANGELO SEAN FRANCIS TIWON

 Free Fall

Nur Fadzilah Binti Basri, Elnetthra Folly Eldy, Jackson Chang Hian Wui, Siti Nazirah
Butai, Huzaikha Binti Awang

Preparatory Center for Science and Technology,

Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Data Collected: 16 July 2019; Submitted: 23 July 2019

Tutorial: 7; Lab Demo: Sir Angelo Sean Francis Tiwon

Abstract

During this experiment, two tests had been conducted, an indoor test and an outdoor
test. Free fall machine was used to measure the value of gravitational force during the
indoor experiment. The test was repeated for a few times with different heights which
varies from 20 cm to 50 cm. When the metal ball was let go to fall, the time it hits
ground was measured immediately. Objects used for the outdoor experiment was
feather, tennis ball and ping pong ball. The height varies from 1 metre to 3 metre and
the time of fall was recorded using a stopwatch. The test was repeated to avoid any
error. The result of the experiment both indoor and outdoor tallies with the theoretical
value which will be g = 9.8 m/s².

Introduction
When gravity is the only acceleration acted upon any motion of a body it is a free fall.
In the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with constant acceleration toward the
surface of the Earth. On the surface of Earth, defined as g = 9.8 m/s². People
mistakenly think the final velocity for a falling object is zero because objects stop once
they hit the ground. In physics problems, the final velocity is the speed just before
touching the ground. Once it touches the ground, the object is no longer in free fall.
(One-dimensional motion, 2019)

Without the effect of air resistance, each object in free fall would keep accelerating
by 9.80665 m/s (approximately equal to 32.17405 ft/s) every second. In reality,
though, the velocity of a falling object is constrained by a value called the terminal
velocity. The free fall acceleration is constant, which means that the gravitational force
acting on an object is constant, too. The force of air resistance, however, increases
with increasing free fall speed. At some point, the two forces become equal in
magnitude. According to Newton's first law, at that point, the falling body stops to
accelerate and moves at a constant speed. This speed is the terminal velocity.
(Haponiuk 2018)

Galileo first introduced the concept of free fall. His classic experiments led to the
finding that all objects free fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass. According
to legend, Galileo dropped balls of different mass from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to
help support his ideas. A freely falling body is an object that is moving under the
influence of gravity only. These objects have a downward acceleration toward the
center of the earth. Newton later took Galileo's ideas about mechanics and formalized
them into his laws of motion. (Free Fall, 2017)

Objective

1. To calculate the value of gravitational force.

2. To investigate the relationship between height of fall and time of fall.
3. To investigate the relationship between the mass of an object and the time of fall.

Theory

There are three formulas that can be used during free fall experiment.

1
h= g t² (1)
2

This formula is used when height and time of all is present.

v² = 2 g h (2)

This formula is used when the velocity of fall and the height of fall is present.

V=gt (3)

This formula is used when the velocity of fall and the time of fall is present.
Method

Figure 1

The experimental set-up was shown in Figure 1. An electrically conducting sphere was
gripped in the release mechanism that closed the start circuit. The digital counter was
set with the function as ‘timer’ and ‘digit’. Then, the aerodynamic drag of the sphere
could be disregarded. The pan was adjusted to 20m by the adjusting crew under the
arrest switch.

Figure 2

Electrically conducting sphere was released from the height of 20m, time taken shown
in the digital counter was read just like shown in Figure 2. These steps were repeated
but the height were raised to 25m, 30m, 35m, 40m and 45m respectively. Graph of
height of fall as function of falling time and graph of height of fall as a function of the
square of falling time were drawn in order to achieve the objective 1 in this experiment.
Gravitational acceleration at each height were calculated. Graph of calculated values
of gravitational acceleration at each height was drawn to achieve objective 2.
Experimental value of gravitational acceleration was compared with the theoretical
value of gravitational acceleration, g = 9.81m/s^2 and percentage of error was
calculated.

Results

A. Indoor Activity
Objective 1: Determine the functional relationship between height of fall and time of
fall.

Table 1: The time fall for each height of fall

Height of fall, Time of fall, t (s)

h (m)
Reading 1 Reading 2 Reading 3 Average

0.20 0.201 0.201 0.201 0.201 ± 0.0

0.25 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 ± 0.0

0.30 0.247 0.247 0.247 0.247 ± 0.0

0.35 0.267 0.267 0.267 0.267 ± 0.0

0.40 0.285 0.285 0.285 0.285 ± 0.0

0.45 0.302 0.302 0.302 0.302 ± 0.0

0.50 0.319 0.319 0.319 0.319 ± 0.0

The average of the time of fall is calculate using equation,

𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 1+ 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 2+𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 3

Average = (4)
3
From Table 1,

0.35

0.3

0.25
Height (m)

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Time (s)

Figure 1 show the relationship between h(cm) against t(s)

From figure 1, the increase in height of fall can increase the time of fall. The height of
fall started from 0.20 m, 0.25 m, 0.30 m, 0.35 m, 0.40 m, 0.45 m then 0.50 m.

Objective 2: Determine the acceleration due to gravity.

Table 2: The time for each height with calculated g

Height of fall, h Time of fall, t t2 Calculated g

(m)
(s) (s2) (ms-2)

0.20 0.201 0.040401 9.90

0.25 0.225 0.050625 9.88

0.30 0.247 0.061090 9.83

0.35 0.267 0.071289 9.82

0.40 0.285 0.081225 9.85

0.45 0.302 0.091204 9.87

0.50 0.319 0.143641 9.83

From Table 2,
 0.16

0.14

0.12
Time ,(s^2)

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Height (m)

Figure 2: Height of fall (m) against t2(s2)

The g is calculate using equation below,

(5)

Figure 3: Height of fall (m) against g (ms-2)

By showing the calculation,

  Substitute the value h=20 m and s2=0.040401 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.90 ms-2.
 Substitute the value h=25m and s2=0.050625 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.88 ms-2.
 Substitute the value h=30 m and s2=0.06109 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.83 ms-2.
 Substitute the value h=35 m and s2=0.071289 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.82 ms-2.
 Substitute the value h=40 m and s2=0.081225 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.85 ms-2.
 Substitute the value h=45 m and s2=0.091204 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.87 ms-2.
 Substitute the value h=50 m and s2= 9.709 s into the equation (5), the
calculated g is equal to 9.83 ms-2.

B. Outdoor Activity
Table 3: Height of fall for each object with different mass with time of fall

Object Mass of object Height of Time of fall, t (s)

(g) fall, h (cm)
Reading 1 Reading 2 Reading 3 average

Tennis 57.5 1 0.69 0.88 0.74 0.77 ± 0.19

ball
2 0.92 0.86 0.89 0.89 ± 0.06

3 1.18 1.09 1.17 1.15 ± 0.09

Ping 2.2 1 0.81 0.61 0.68 0.70 ± 0.16

pong
ball 2 1.10 1.05 0.89 1.01 ± 0.21

3 1.22 1.16 2.28 1.22 ± 0.12

Feather 0.5 1 0.92 0.87 1.03 0.94 ± 0.16

2 1.82 1.91 1.81 1.85 ± 0.10

3 2.70 2.44 2.64 2.59 ± 0.26

 Table 4: Height for each object with calculated g

Object Time of fall, t t2 Height of fall, h Calculated g

(s) (m) (ms-2)

0.77 0.5929 1 3.3733

Tennis ball 0.89 0.7921 2 5.0499

1.15 1.3225 3 4.5369

Ping 0.70 0.4900 1 4.0816

Pong 1.01 1.0201 2 3.9212

Ball 1.22 1.4884 3 4.0312

0.94 0.8836 1 2.2635

Feather 1.85 3.4225 2 1.1687

2.59 6.7081 3 0.8944

Discussion

The relationship between height, gravity and time can be expressed using the formula

h= 1 gt ^ 2 Free-falling objects are objects that are affected by only gravitational

2
force .Therefore an object that is moving due to gravitational pull is said to be
experiencing free fall where its acceleration is equal to the gravitational acceleration
which is 9.81m/s² (Physics, 2019). The weight, size and height do not affect the
speed of an object under free fall motion. Free fall has no air resistance or viscous
drag affecting the gravitational acceleration such as a vacuum. (Hall, 2015). So, if a
watermelon and a feather were released at the same time to undergo free fall motion
in vacuum, they will land at the same time.

In order to understand the concept of free fall, an experiment of objects in free

falling motion was conducted. The experiment had been divided into two parts. For
the first part of experiment which is conducted in indoor, a metal ball at rest was
released from several distinct heights to observe the time taken for it to reach the end
point. Based on Figure 1, the relationship between the height of fall of metal ball is
directly proportional to the time taken for metal ball to fall. Thus, it was shown that
the height of fall for the metal ball increases, the time taken for metal ball to fall

increases as the result in Table 1 which matches the theory where h= 1 gt ^ 2 .

2

Next, as the height of fall for the metal ball increased, based on Table 1, the
calculated value for gravity for respective heights were similar to each height. Based
on Figure 1, it was shown that the height of metal ball to fall does not affect the value
of gravity. This is because gravitational acceleration is always 9.81m/s^2 (Rouse, 2005)
where the result matched the theory. The average value for the gravity calculated was
9.85m/s^2, with a percentage error of 0.45% compared to the theoretical value,
9.81m/s². The deviation of the value compared to theoretical value occurs due to some
errors occurred throughout the experiment. The inconsistency of the outdoor
experiment is affected by external errors such as random errors. Firstly, the heights
for the ball to fall were not measured accurately. Also, the time recorded with a
stopwatch for a complete oscillation was not recorded accurately. When the
stopwatch was used to record the time taken for free fall motion human error had
occurred because the time to stop the watch right when the object lands was always
different. It had happened when handling the stopwatch because it was quite hard to
equalize the time of fall and the time of stopwatch have been started and stopped.
Other than that, there were also environmental error such as air resistance that acted
against the object as it was falling freely. Parallax error can also have occurred when
observing the measuring tape at different positions when measuring the height. The
instrumental error also possible to affect result because this error attributed to
imperfection in the tools with which the analyst works.

By improving the experiment, while measuring the height for the metal ball to fall,
the readings on the metre rule recorded should be perpendicular with the observer’s
eye level to prevent parallax error. Secondly, while recording the time for the falling
of metal ball, three experimenters can be recorded together and obtain an average
value for accuracy and consistency. Lastly, all the instruments used during the
experiment should be ensure in good condition for better use. Thus, by minimizing
these errors, the percentage error of the experiment will minimize.

In the results of the indoor experiment, the manipulate variable is the height of the
metal ball, the responding variable is the time taken for free fall and the constant
variable is the object used. The average time for the free fall motion increased when
the of height of object was increased. The height is directly proportional to the time,
and the relationship between height and time can be expressed as v=d/t where d=Vt.
The results were used to calculate the gravity component, but the gravity component
is not similar with the theoretical value of g which is 9.8m/s^2 because there were
other components such as air resistance affecting the falling metal ball.

For the second part of the experiment, which was conducted in outdoor, there were
three different types of object which were tennis ball, ping-pong ball and feather were
used. Each object was dropped from different heights of 1m, 2m and 3m. Each of the
three readings were not consistent compared to the indoor experiment because the
time taken were different. In the experiment results, the data obtained was that at
1m, the ping-pong ball was the fastest to land and the tennis ball came second while
the feather was the last to land. Then at 2m the tennis ball became the first to land
while the ping pong ball took longer, and the feather took the longest time to land.
Then at 3m, the same scenario occurred with tennis ball first, ping-pong ball second
and feather last. Gravitational acceleration calculated for each object found had a big
gap from the actual value of g which is 9.8m/s^2 because of external factors affecting
the experiment.

Questions:

1. How does the experimental value of g compare to the theoretical value,

9.81m/𝑠 2 . Calculate the percentage error.
Answer: The average experimental value of g was 9.85 m/𝑠 2 . It was 0.04 more
than the theoretical value. So, the percentage error can be calculated:

9.81𝑚/𝑠2
100% - (9.85𝑚/𝑠2 x 100%) = 0.45%
2. What factors a may cause the experiment value to be different from the
theoretical value?
Answer: The factors that may cause the difference were human error and
environmental error. Human error occurred when taking the reading of the
instrument. Besides that, environmental error occurred during the experiment
which was air resistance.

3. Describe how the human body has adapted to the force of gravity on Earth
over time. How might it have evolved if gravity had not been present?
Answer: The force of gravity is the force that exerts a downward force of
9.8m/s^2 to keep us from floating into space. Our body is affected by this
downward force during our growth, it can influence the bone density and
muscle formation of our body over time.

If gravity had not been present, the bone density and muscle formation will be
significantly different compared to the humans with Earth’s gravity. Due to that,
their mass will also be indirectly affected. Bone structure will not change in a
single generation but over several generations in no gravity may start to see
their bones becoming more flexible to adapt. Several more generations later
may result in a flexible being that can quickly bend around curves and corners.

For muscle formation, where our strongest muscles specialized on keeping us

upright with gravity, without gravity a person would not be able to form such
muscles as there is no force acting on them and they do not require strong
muscles to walk either.

4. Discuss Newton’s Laws of Motion. Which law or laws involve the force of gravity?
Give example of each Law of motion that occurs in your everyday life.

Answer: There are three laws of motion known as Newton law of physics. The
first law of motion is about inertia which is often defined as inertia is the
tendency of an object to resists changes in its motion and continue its state of
motion if no forces acted on it. Inertia is when an object continues its motion
when an object comes to a halt. For example, when a car suddenly stopped,
the fuzzy dice hanging on the car’s mirror will continue to move forward
 continuing its state of motion. The second law of motion states that the
acceleration of an object is affected by mass of an object and the net force of
object. This law explains why more force is needed to push a heavy barrel on
a normal plane and less force is needed to push the same barrel on an inclined
plane. Newton third law states that for every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction, this means that any force applied to something will have an
equal amount of force pushing back on it. When a ball hits ground or a wall
the ball applies a force on the wall or on the ground. The wall or the ground
apply a reaction force then the ball bounces back.
Out of the three laws of newton, Newton’s second law applies the gravity.
Newton second law describes the relationship between an object’s mass and
the amount of force needed to accelerate it. The formula for Newton second
law is F=ma, the acceleration in the formula can be represented by the force
of gravity, F=mg.

5. Compare and contrast the force of gravity on earth with the force of gravity on
one of the other planets in our solar system. Which planet has a stronger
gravitational force? What would be the effects on astronaut bodies when
visiting the planet for an extended period of time?

Answer: Mars has a has a weaker gravitational force, 3.711m/s^2 when

compared with earth’s gravitational force, 9.81m/s^2. After a visit on mars,
the person will have difficulty in orientating and adapting to Earth’s gravity. The
surface gravity of Mars is 38% that of Earth. The person’s cells, bones, and
muscles changes as they re-adapt to the gravity environment of Mars. A
permanent physiological change in the person’s bone density, muscle strength,
and circulation happens when adapting to Mars environment making it
impossible to survive under Earth conditions if they were to ever return.
Conclusion:

In conclusion, the experiment is very successful as it was useful in learning about

free fall motion. From this experiment, height of the object was proven to be directly
proportional to reaction time of free fall. The calculated value of gravity was close to
the theoretical value of gravity at 9.8m/s^2 but with a small error of 0.45% because
of errors in measurements. The time taken differs when height was manipulated but
the value of gravity should theoretically remain as the real value of g =9.8m/s^2
during free fall.

References

Free fall, (2017), retrieved from

https://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/freefall.html

Hoponiuk, B. (2017), Free Fall Calculator, Retrieved from

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/free-fall#what-is-the-free-fall-definition

One-dimensional motion, (2019), retrieved from

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-physics-1/ap-one-dimensional-motion

Hall, N. (2015). Motion of free-falling object (no air resistance). NASA. Retrieved from
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/mofall.html

The Physics classroom. (2019) Introduction to free fall. Retrieved from

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1Dkin/u1l5a

Rouse, M. (September 2005). Definition of gravitational acceleration. Retrieved from

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/gravitational-acceleration