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The objective of this lab experiment was to incorporate graphing techniques into to help understand the motions of moving objects, moving at constant accelerations or constant velocities. To be more specific, the purpose was to find the velocity of an object moving at a constant speed and to find the velocity and acceleration of the same object moving at a constant acceleration. The procedure consisted of using a timing device, an air-track, and an air-track cart. First, strips of paper were inserted into the timing device and taped to the back of the cart which was placed upon the track. When the motor was turned of, tiny holes in the track forced air under the cart creating a nearly frictionless surface for the cart to move on. The track at this point was leveled and the cart was pushed, then it moved undisturbed to the very end of the track. The timing device left markings on the paper strips: one second for every four dots. The distance between every fourth dot was measured and recorded to judge the distance the cart traveled every second, then this data was graphed. Then the cart was replaced on the track with the paper in the timer and taped to the back of the cart, only this time the track was on an angle and, unlike the last run, no initial push was given to make the cart move. The cart moved at a gradually increasing pace before it was caught at the bottom and stopped. As before, every fourth dot denoted a second. The space between every fourth dot was then measured and recorded, then this data was graphed.
The results showed that on the run for constant velocity, that the average difference between every four dots was about 82 cm for every second, however the slope of the graph we made showed that the cart was traveling 79 cm/s, meaning that there was a percent error of 3.66%. On the acceleration graph, the slope between points at the one-second mark and the three-second mark was 5.05cm/.1s. Between the points at the six-second mark and the...