CP2D Core practical - Investigating acceleration Flashcards
Outline the basic steps of the practical
Measure the mass of the trolley, place it at the top of the ramp and set up light gates in two positions along the ramp
Attach a string to the trolley, and pass it over a pulley at the end of the bench
Attach a fixed mass to the end of the string and release it so the trolley accelerates
Repeat with varying masses attachted to the trolley
What should be used to measure the mass of the trolley before masses are added
An electric balance, which is zeroed before placing the trolley on
How can you choose an appropriate quantity of masses to use as the fixed mass for this experiment
Carry out a preliminary experiment to find what weight is needed to just accelerate the trolley from rest
What would be the consequence of using too large fixed weight
The trolley would accelerate too quickly for the timing at each interval to be accurate
How would you expect the acceleration of the trolley to change when you add masses onto the trolley
The acceleration will decrease as masses are added to the trolley
a = F/m
Explain why two light gates are required to carry out the timing
Each lightgate can be used to calculate an average speed at that point. Two are needed so that acceleration between the two gates can be calculated
What must be attached to the trolley for the lightgate system to work
A piece of card to cut the beam as the trolley passes through. The length of card should be inputted into the software
How can the acceleration of the trolley between the two light gates be calculated
The difference between the speed at each gate will give a value for change of velocity,
Acceleration = Change in velocity
———————–
Time
What could be plotted to produce a straight line graph
Acceleration against the reciprocal of mass (1/mass)
