Laboratory Exercise 2: Acceleration Due to Gravity and Error Propagation Answer Sheet

Name: Avery McDaniel Name: ________________________

Name: ________________________ Name: ________________________

This is the form that you must turn in to get credit for the lab. Please answer the questions fully
as some questions ask you to write an explanation instead of a number or multiple choice
answer. If the lab asks you to make graphs, do so in Excel copy them into this sheet in the
appropriate place.

When you are ready to turn the lab in, convert the file to .pdf and submit it via the Assignments
tool on D2L. Labs submitted in other formats will not be considered. A group of up to 4
members may submit one lab report. It is not necessary for each member to submit a separate
report as long as each member’s name in included at the top of this sheet.

Part A:
Exercise 2-1

1. Average (mean) speed 67.83 MPH

2. Standard Deviation of the speed 9.75 MPH

3. Briefly Explain: No, we would not be able to see a car traveling 90 mph as the standard
deviation is a miniscule value indicating that the data is closer to the average speed
that is lower than 90.

Part B:
Exercise 2-2
1. Percent Error 4.00%

2. Is the experimentally found value within the expected range? Yes or No

Briefly Explain: The average values would fall between the values 5.54 and 6.

3. Give reasons why the measured value may be less than the expected.
The square root of the number of data points is larger than the standard deviation, so the
standard error is smaller, which would mean the standard error multiplied by the t-statistic
would calculate a smaller uncertainty. Because there is a smaller t-statistic and standard
error, the uncertainty would not be large enough to suggest the measured value could be as
large as the expected value.
Part C:
Exercise 2-3

Height (m) Trial 1 (s) Trial 2 (s) Trial 3 (s) Trial 4 (s) Trial 5 (s) Trial 6 (s)
1.50 m 0.56 s 0.59 s 0.54 s 0.56 s 0.59 s 0.52 s

1. Average time of fall = 0.56 𝑠

2. Acceleration due to gravity = 9.57 𝑚#𝑠 !

3. Percent error = 2.38%

Does this seem large or small?

This percent error seems small for this data set.

4. Proportional error in the distance = 0.00033

5. Standard deviation in time = 0.028 s

Does this seem large or small?

This standard deviation is small.

6. Standard error = 0.01125 s

7. Uncertainty = 0.029 s

8. Proportional error in time of fall = 0.052

Does this seem large or small?

This proportional error seems small for the data set.

9. Proportional error in acceleration = 0.1036

10. Uncertainty in acceleration = 0.9918 𝑚#𝑠 !

11. Did your experiment correctly predict g? Think about your value, the uncertainty, and
the accepted value of 9.8 𝑚#𝑠 ! .
The experiment was not successful in predicting g. The percent error and standard
deviation were miniscule indicating little error and precision within the experiment,
 however because of the high uncertainty due to the proportional error, the
experiment deviated from correctly calculating g.
12. Can you think of ways to improve the experimental design so that the experiment was
more successful? Briefly describe them.

One way I could improve the experiment was to use a measuring device with the
metric system in order to correctly pinpoint 1.50 m instead of converting from inches
to meters determining the height of the fall. Another way is to have another person or
a tape hold the measuring device intact while I dropped the marble and started the
timer simultaneously to avoid errors in the time measurement.

Part D:
Exercise 2-4
1. If we double the height that ball is dropped from, how will the velocity that it strikes the
ground with change? Will it: stay the same? Increase but not double? Double? More
than double? Highlight or bold your answer.

2. If we double the height that ball is dropped from, how will the time that it takes to hit
the ground change? Will it: stay the same? Increase but not double? Double? More
than double? Highlight or bold your answer.

Number of Stories Height (m) Time of Fall (s) Final Velocity (m/s)
110 330 8.2 81
100 300 7.8 77
90 270 7.4 73
80 240 7.0 70
70 210 6.6 65
60 180 6.1 60
50 150 5.6 55
40 120 5.0 48
30 90 4.3 42
20 60 3.5 34
15 45 3.0 30

Exercise 2-5
 1. Were your predictions in Exercise 2-4 correct? An easy way to answer this is to look at
the data for 100 stories and 50 stories. How did the Time of Fall and Final Velocities
change for the different heights?
Velocity prediction correct: Yes or No. Highlight or bold your answer.
Time prediction correct: Yes or No. Highlight or bold your answer.
I correctly predicted that the time would not double but increase after doubling the
height. However, my prediction that the velocity would not only increase, but double,
was incorrect.
2. Do you expect a graph of Velocity vs Time to be linear (meaning forming a straight line)?
Briefly explain your reasoning.
I believe the graph will be linear as there is a continual decline in the velocity and time
which would create a line without any inconsistencies
3. Do you expect a graph of Height vs Time to be linear (meaning forming a straight line)?
Briefly explain your reasoning.
I do expect the graph to be linear as there is a consistent trend in the increase in height
and the increase in the time for the ball to land on the ground.

4. Were your predictions in Question 2 correct? Yes or No. Highlight or bold your answer.

5. What is the slope of the best fit line? Does this value make sense? What physical
quantity does the slope represent? Briefly explain.
The slope of the line is 9.9717. It makes sense because the time increases with rising number
of stories, the velocity increases. No outliers in the data exist which reveals the consistency of
the points.

6. Were your predictions in Question 3 correct? Look carefully at the plot. Is it linear or is
it curved? Yes or No. Highlight or bold your answer.

7. If we included air resistance, how would the results in Question 5 change? Would the
graph become steeper or less steep (would the slope increase or decrease)? Briefly
explain your reasoning.

The results in question 5 would reveal a curve that would= plateau in the graph. The result
would show a greater amount of time, but it indicates a lower velocity with a greater amount
of air resistance.