Free Fall Lab

Free Fall Lab

By Josue Luna and Ricardo Gonzalez

March 1, 2017 

Statement: Gravity falls at 9.8 m/s^2 when all other external forces are absence. 

Introduction: This lab we used an apparatus to measure an object fall from a height of 1.5 meters. The object falling from the apparatus produced spark at around 60 Hz on a piece of paper. We measure the dots on the paper to see the distance travel in those intervals. 

Procedure: 

This is apparatus we used to measure the free fall of object. The professor used this machine to collect the data. The way this apparatus collects data is by having a piece of paper on the side as an object falls along the piece of paper. The object falling produces a sparks which marks the piece of paper as it falls. 

Data: 

  

The data shown on the top picture shows the distance travel between each interval. The top graph shows mid-interval speed(m/s) vs time(s) graph. The second graph shows the distance(m) vs time(s) graph. 

Explanation of the graph:  The top graph is explaining the fall speed of the object which came out 9.5 m/s which is a little below 9.8 m/s. The way we got 9.5 is by getting the mid points of the positions of the data. We plot these numbers into logger pro and got a graph which gives the slope and the slope is the acceleration due to gravity. The bottom graph gives the change of position over time and this graph shows the object's acceleration increasing over time.