LAB 2: FREE FALL MOTION

Name: DECLAN GALE ANAK DELLY

Student ID: 2022476716
Date: 25th October 2022
Lecturer’s Name: MDM LIEW YIT LIAN
Class: AS1251A

Group Member(s)

1. AARON JASPER ANAK ABANG 3. MUHAMMAD DZAIRI BIN TONY

WAN KHAIRIL AIEMI BIN WAN 4. NAJMI ZULHUSNI BIN IDRIS
2. ARDEY

Rubrics for Lab Report:

3 2 1 0 Score
Units are used Units used only Units are rarely Units are not used
correctly and in some key parts used or are or incorrect.
consistently of report. generally
Units throughout the incorrect.
report.
Data entered Some data A few data No data entered
with correct entered with entered with with correct
significant figure. correct correct significant figure.
Data entry significant figure. significant figure.

Calculations are Calculations Calculations Calculation

Data correct. All steps contain few contain some steps not shown.
Manipulation clearly laid out. errors. All steps errors. Steps not
clearly laid out. clearly laid out.

All data points Some data Some data points Data points
plotted correctly, points plotted plotted correctly. plotted
Correct method correctly, Wrong method incorrectly,
Graph used to determine Correct method Wrong method
used to
slope and
used to determine slope used to determine
intercept.
Maximum and determine slope and intercept. slope and
minimum lines and intercept. intercept. No
plotted correctly. maximum and
minimum lines.
Appropriate Given discussion Irrelevant No discussion is
Discussion discussion is partially correct. discussion is given.
given. given.

Appropriate Given conclusion Irrelevant No conclusion is

Conclusion conclusion is partially correct. conclusion is given.
given. given.
 TOTAL: / 18
Title: FREE FALL MOTION

OBJECTIVES:
To determine the magnitude of the gravitational acceleration during free fall.

APPARATUS:
Drop box, communication cable, time of flight accessory, control box, AC adapter,
steel ball (1.5 cm diameter, 8.10 g), plastic ball (10.30 cm diameter, 20.7g), golf ball
(4.46 cm diameter, 23g) and timer switch.

Theory
The objects always influence that falls from a high place is called gravitational
force. Thus, this phenomenon is called free fall when an object tends to move
towards the earth when it is dropped from places above the earth. To find the
gravitational acceleration it is possible for us to use the kinematic formula.
First, we can use the formula:
h = ½ ayt2 + ut (1)
where h represents height of which the ball was dropped, ay represents the
gravitational acceleration, t represents time, and u represent the initial velocity.
If the object was dropped without any initial velocity, the equation would probably
change into:
h = ½ ayt2 (2)

2ℎ
ay = g = (3)
𝑡2

g = 2 x gradient of the graph (h versus t2) (4)

PROCEDURES:

1. The experiment was setup as shown on Figure 1.

2. The object was attached to the drop box.

3. The time-of-light accessory was placed directly below the object.

4. The smart timer was switched on.

5. The “Select Measurement” button was pressed until “time” was

appeared on the display.

6. The “Select Mode” button was pressed until “two gates” appear
on the display.

7. The “start/stop” button was pressed once to release the object and to reset
the recorded reading.

8. The timer reading was took placed.

9. The experiment was repeated several times with different height. The
height and drop time was recorded in given Table 1.

10. Steps 2 until 9 was repeated0 for two different types of object.
 Figure 1 Experiment Set-up

DATA:

Types of ball: Plastic ball

Mass of ball: 2.06g Diameter of ball: 3.7 cm

Table 1
No Height of the ball, h Time, t (s) Average time, t ( s ) t2 (s)

(cm) t1 t2

1 100 0.55 0.60 0.58 0.34

2 80 0.32 0.28 0.38 0.09
3 60 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.06
4 40 0.21 0.19 0.20 0.04
5 20 0.14 0.15 0.15 0.02

Types of ball: Golf ball

Mass of ball: 46.25 g Diameter of ball: 4.0 cm

Table 2
No Height of the ball, h Time, t (s) Average time, t (s) t2 ( s)

(cm) t1 t2

1 100 0.40 0.48 0.44 0.19

2 80 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.17
3 60 0.25 0.26 0.26 0.07
4 40 0.20 0.24 0.22 0.05
5 20 0.17 0.20 0.19 0.04
DATA ANALYSIS

i. Plot h versus t2 graph based on the data in Table 1, Table 2.

Graph 1 Graph 2
ii. Using equation (4), calculate the gravitational acceleration, g for
each graph.
Graph 1:
Coordinate: (0.04 ,40.00) and (0.02,20.00)
Unit conversion: 40.00 cm / 100 = 0.40 m
20.00 cm / 100 = 0.20 m

g= 2x ((0.40-0.20) / (0.04-0.02))
g= 20ms-2
Graph 2:
Coordinate: (0.19 ,100.00) and (0.04, 20.00)
Unit conversion: 100.00 cm / 100 = 1.00 m
20.00cm / 100 = 0.20 m

g= 2 x ((1.00-0.20) / (0.19-0.04)
g= 10.67ms-2
DISCUSSION:

i. Compare the calculated value of g with standard value (g = 9.81 ms-

2).

- The value of g is being determined from graph 1 which is

20 ms-2 with the standard value which is 9.81 ms-2 and the
difference between the two value is 10.19 ms-2 . From the
value of graph 2 is 10.67 ms- 2 , so the difference between
the value with standard g value is 0.86 ms-2.
ii. Discuss the factors that have contributed to the differences in the
value.
- During the experiment, there are several factors could
have systematic error when taking readings for the time, t,
such as the stopwatch is taken at a certain amount and
caused delay to predict the accurate timer. However,
parallax error also occurs in this experiment such as the eye
position is not perpendicular.

iii. How to overcome the factors mentioned in (ii), discuss.

- To overcome those factors, the stopwatch manufacturer

should list the systematic error on the instrument. This way,
we can consider the errors when taking measurement for
time. On the other hand, to reduce the errors cause by our
reaction time, multiple measurements should be taken and
average out to statistically reduce the chance of error.
Finally, we must make sure that we lined up our eye to the
object to make sure there is no parallax error.

iv. Does the different type of objects influence the value of

gravitational acceleration? Explain.
 - The value of a gravitational acceleration does not influence in
different types of objects. For an example, the gravitational
acceleration has the same heavy objects and light objects.

Based on the formula below:

g = GM/r2

According to the formula below gravitational force is directly

proportionate to the objects mass:

F=ma

- Mass is inversely proportionate to its acceleration. Thus, the

greater the gravitational acceleration, the heavier an object
its. The gravitational acceleration of an object would remain
constant if those two forces is cancelling out each other.
CONCLUSION:

To sum up, this experiment is to determine the gravitational

acceleration by observing free falling objects. Based from our results,
we have obtained the results of two magnitudes for the gravitational
acceleration of observing free fall objects which are 10.67 ms-2 and 20
ms-2 .There are some several errors will occur might affect the end of
the results which are indicate the values are quite far from the
numerous standard value of g which is 9.81 ms-2.