Guidelines for Lab Report (Lab 2.3)

Your lab report needs to have a title and needs to be organized into the following sections:

Title

Introduction

Material and Methods

Results

Discussion

References

N.B. An Abstract is not required for this particular Lab Report.

General Comments:

  • Keep your writing impersonal; use third person past tense. Avoid using I and We
  • Pay attention to grammar and punctuation and divide paragraphs correctly.
  • Make sure you are providing enough detail & analysis!

Some Suggestions for the Introduction:

  • What is acceleration? Give examples of different kinds of acceleration (positive, negative, direction change). How do we calculate acceleration? Discuss the speed vs. time graph. W hat information does a speed vs. time graph give us? What does each trend on a speed vs. time graph tell us?
  • State your objectives/purpose
  • State your hypothesis, with a brief explanation (Will the acceleration of the car change depending on where it is on the ramp, or will it remain constant?)

Material and Method:

  • This section is to be written in paragraph form – i.e. narrative form
  • Third person, past tense
  • Briefly describe the experimental procedure and equipment that you used. Be sure to include part of the procedure from 2.2 that relates to this lab!

Results:

  • Data table from 2.3 (pg. 14)
  • Calculations for data table from 2.3 (speed & acceleration)
  • Data table from lab, with columns: Position, Distance (5cm), Time at B, Speed at B, Time from A to B
  • Calculations for Speed at B
  • Graph (Part 2 on pg. 15)
  • Calculation of slope of line (Part 3 on pg. 15)

Some suggestions for the Discussion

  • Include an interpretation of your results. Look at your speed vs. time graph. Is your graph a straight line or curve? Does the car accelerate as it rolls down the ramp? Is it accelerating at a constant rate, or does the acceleration change? Justify your answer using the data from the curve! What was the slope of the S vs. T graph? What does this slope equal? How does the acceleration you measured (in Data Table 2.3 pg. 14) compare with the acceleration you calculated (from the S vs. T graph). If there are differences, try to think where they might have come from.
  • Were there any errors made that could have skewed the results?
  • How can the procedure of the experiment be improved?
  • Ideas for other experiments, based on this one? Other variables that might be tested?
  • Were the objectives of the experiment met?
  • Can you make a connection between this experiment and the real world?

References

List all your resources (books used, data tables, web sites consulted) that you used in writing the introduction and discussion and cite your references using the APA guidelines. Minimum = 3