Investigating motion

Question 1

You can investigate how much mass and force effect acceleration Practical ( Which tests Newtons second law ) 1-3

Answer 1

1) Set up the apparatus show below, set up the trolley so it hold a piece of card with a gap in the middle which will interrupt with the light gate twice. If you measure the length of each bit of card that will pass through the light gate and input this into the software, the light gate can measure the velocity of each bit of card. It can use this to workout acceleration of the trolley

2) Connect the trolley to a piece of string that goes over a pully and is connected on the other side to a hook

3) The weight of the hook and any attached masses generates an accelerating force equal to the mass of the hook (M) multiplied acceleration due to gravity (G).

Question 2

PRACTICAL 4-6

Answer 2

4) The weight of the hook and masses accelerate both the trolley and the masses, So you are investigating the acceleration of the system.
5) Mark a starting line on the table the trolley is on so that the trolley always travels the same distance to the light gate
6) Place the trolley on the starting line, holding the hook so the string is taut and release it

Question 3

PRACTICAL 7-8

Answer 3

7) Record the acceleration of the light gate as trolley passes through it. This is the acceleration of the whole system

8) repeat 2x more to get an average acceleration

Question 4

PRACTICAL 8-9

Answer 4

8) To investigate the effect of mass, add masses to the trolley one at a time to investigate the mass of the system. Don’t add masses to the hook , or the force will change. Record the average acceleration for each mass

9) To investigate the effect of force, keep the total mass of the system constant while altering the mass of the hook. Begin with all masses on the trolley and then transfer the mass of the hook one at a time to increase the accelerating force. Since the masses are simply being redistributed, the total mass remains unchanged. Record the average acceleration for each applied force.

Question 5

How can Newtons second law explain the results??

Answer 5

1) Newtons 2 law, F=MA here, F= weight of hanging masses, M = mass of the whole system, A = acceleration of the system

2) add mass to trolley = mass of whole system increase, but, force applied to system stays the same, this should lead to a decrease in acceleration of the trolley as a=f/m

3) transfer masses to hook = increase accelerating force w/o changing mass of the whole system, so, increase force -> Increase in acceleration of the trolley