Toy car vs. Ball Lab
Purpose: To compare the motion of a toy car moving at a constant speed on a level surface with a ball rolling down an inclined track.
Procedure:
1. Elevate the end of the track that is closed; the closed end marks your starting point.
2. Lay a meterstick next to the track, also inclined, with the zero end at the front of the ball at the starting point.
3. Lay a meter stick along the table underneath the track so that the zero end is right underneath the starting point of the ball.
4. Hold the ball against the closed elevated end of the track. Start the car alongside the ramp with the front end of the car before the start point.
5. Release the car behind the starting point and as the car reaches the zero point, release the ball and observe the “race.”
6. Watch where the ball and toy car cross along the metersticks. Adjust the height of the elevated track until the ball and toy car pass each other between 60 and 80 cm. Leave the track at this height for the rest of the experiment.
7. Ignoring the car for a moment, release the ball from the start point and time how long it takes to get to 10 cm on the meterstick along the track. Record the timing to the nearest 0.1 second in the Data Table. Repeat the experiment for three trials and average them.
8. Repeat the experiment but time the ball to 20 cm, 30 cm, etc. to 100 cm.
9. Follow steps #8 and 9 for the toy car to fill in the second data table.
You will make a Full sheet Graph of this data. follow the instructions on the other side!
Graph Instructions:
1. You will need a full sheet of graph paper for your graph. Orient your graph paper just like this lab paper, your dependent axis will be the longest axis, “portrait” style.
2. Your dependent variable will be Displacement in centimeters and your independent variable will be time in seconds.
3. Make your graph fill the paper and follow the graphing rules you learned earlier in the year.
4. Graph both sets of data on the same graph. Use point protectors to distinguish the ball and toy car data. Do not use color as you will use specific colors later.
5. Using a regular pencil draw a horizontal dashed line from the point on the graph where your toy car and ball crossed (should be 60-80 cm) to the displacement (vertical) axis.
6. Using a regular pencil draw a vertical dashed line from the point on the graph where your toy car and ball crossed ( should be 60-80 cm) to the time (horizontal) axis.
7. Where these two dashed lines cross, use a regular pencil to write the value for the displacement, in centimeters, and the value for time, in seconds to the 0.1 s, as a point. Put a BOX around these two values.
8. Using a red pencil, draw a tangent line to the ball data at the crossover point. You will draw a slope triangle for this line and calculate the slope at that point in question #4(a).
9. Locate the point on the graph for the ball data where the speed of the ball is the same as the speed of the toy car. (Hint: think about slopes!)
10. At this point, use a blue pencil and draw a tangent line to that ball curve. (Hint: What should that tangent line be parallel to?)
11. Using a blue pencil, draw a vertical dashed line from this point to the time axis. Where this dashed line intersects the time axis, use a blue pencil to write the value for time (to the 0.1s). Put a BOX around these two values.
YES I really want you to use those colors and YES I really want you to do all those things to the graph!