University of Calgary

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Labatorial 2: Motion on an Inclined Plane

Overview:
In this lab you will incline the air table and
use the camera to record a video of a puck as
it moves up and down the frictionless inclined
plane. You will analyze the video to
subsequently explore the relationships learned
in lecture between the position, velocity, and
acceleration of the puck throughout its motion.
In particular, you will use position vs time,
velocity vs time, and acceleration vs time
graphs to study these relationships at various
points along the puck’s trajectory. Finally,
you will compare the theoretical value for the
acceleration (based on the angle of inclination) This figure shows the motion of a puck as it slides
along an inclined plane. Based on the picture, how
with the experimentally determined value. is the plane inclined?

Pre-Lab Reading:

Sections 1.1–1.6 and 2.4–2.6 of “Physics for Scientists and Engineers,” R.D. Knight, 4th Ed.
Please complete Checkpoint 1 (page 2-3) prior to the lab. Your TA will check if you have
Checkpoint 1 filled-in and grant you entry to the lab based on that.

Equipment:

Air table, air supply, camera, camera mount stand, large puck, ImageJ software, camera
software, Excel, lab jack, inclinometer

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1 Motion With Constant Acceleration

1.1 Motion Diagrams

The figure below shows a motion diagram for an object sliding up and back down a frictionless
inclined plane.

Question 1: Draw an appropriate coordinate system onto the motion diagram above. Why
did you choose this coordinate system?

Question 2: Draw the average velocity vectors ~vavg for adjacent points on the motion
diagram above. What is the relationship between ~vavg and the displacement vector, ∆~x?

Question 3: Does the average velocity vector change with time? Explain how you know
based on the information contained in the motion diagram.

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Question 4: Consider the pair of points 2 and 3. What is the average velocity for these two
points in the motion diagram?

Question 5: Is the average velocity between points 2 and 3 necessarily equal to the
instantaneous velocity at either of those two points? Explain.

Question 6: What should the instantaneous velocity of the object be at its highest point? Is
there a pair of consecutive points in the motion diagram with this average velocity? Explain.

Question 7: Use a ruler to construct all of the change-in-velocity vectors ∆~v in the motion
diagram. What do the change-in-velocity vectors tell you about the magnitude and direction
of the average acceleration of the object?

B: CHECKPOINT 1: Before moving on to the next part, discuss your

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Question 8: Does the average acceleration vector change with time? Explain how you know
based on the information contained in the motion diagram.

Question 9: What should the acceleration of the object be at the highest point in its motion?
Is this consistent with the information contained in the motion diagram?

Question 10: As the object is moving up the incline, are the velocity and acceleration
vectors pointing in the same direction or opposite directions? Explain why this makes sense.

Question 11: As the object is moving down the incline, are the velocity and acceleration
vectors pointing in the same direction or opposite directions? Explain why this makes sense.

Question 12: Does this motion diagram represent an object undergoing constant accelera-
tion? Explain how you know.

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1.2 Position, Velocity, and Acceleration vs Time Graphs

Question 13: An object is launched up a frictionless inclined plane and is allowed to slide
up and then back down again. In the graphs provided below, predict how the position vs
time, velocity vs time, and acceleration vs time graphs will look. Be sure to indicate on all
three graphs the time that the object reaches its highest point.

Question 14: What is the relationship between the position vs time graph and the velocity
vs time graph?

Question 15: What is the velocity at the highest point in the object’s trajectory? How is
this represented in your graphs?

Question 16: What is the relationship between the velocity vs time graph and the accelera-
tion vs time graph?

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Question 17: What is the acceleration at the highest point in the object’s trajectory? How
is this represented in your graphs?

Question 18: Are your graphs above consistent with the previous motion diagram? Explain
why or why not.

B: CHECKPOINT 2: Before moving on to the next part, discuss your

2 Recording Motion Along an Inclined Plane

In this section you will incline the air table and use the camera to record the puck sliding up
and down the inclined air table. When you are ready to start taking your data, please follow
these steps:

1. Turn on the air supply and place a small puck on the air table.

2. Practice launching the puck up the incline, trying to have it move only along the incline
direction (minimal sideways motion), without letting it hit the top of the table.

3. When you are ready, record a video of the puck as it slides up and back down the
incline. Be sure to catch the puck before it hits the bottom of the table.

4. Follow the steps in “Recording and Analyzing Videos” making sure to crop the
video from when the puck is out of contact with your finger to just before it reaches
the bottom of the table again.

5. Import the analyzed data into the Excel template “Lab 2 template”.

6. While you are preparing the data, answer the following questions:

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In lecture, we talk about the x-direction as being parallel along the incline and the y-direction
as being perpendicular to the incline. The puck probably had some additional motion in the
sideways direction of the air table, meaning there is another direction: z. In this labatorial you
will not need to analyze motion in the z-direction, because we are focusing on 1-dimensional
motion along the plane.

Question 19: Which direction are you choosing to be the x-direction in order to be consistent
with the discussion of inclined planes in lecture?

Question 20: On the 2-dimensional picture of the airtable below, label the x- and y-
directions.

Question 21: What is the connection between a motion diagram and the data that you
extracted from the video? Be as explicit as possible.

Question 22: Is the data you used to populate the Excel template equivalent to the
information contained in a motion diagram? Why or why not?

In the Excel template “Lab 2 template”, you input your data from ImageJ in the first two
columns and the rest of the table is populated for you in order to save time. The following
questions are regarding these other columns and the accompanying graphs.

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Question 23: Based on the acceleration column that has been populated, does your data
describe motion with constant acceleration? Explain.

Question 24: Find the slope of the velocity vs time graph. Does the value you get agree
with the value of the average acceleration in the data table?

B: CHECKPOINT 3: Before moving on to the next part, discuss your

Question 25: Use the inclinometer to measure the angle of inclination of the table, θ. What
is the value of θ?

Question 26: In lecture we saw that the acceleration along an inclined plane is ax = g sin θ.
According to the value of θ you measured, what should the acceleration of the puck be?

Question 27: Does the predicted value of ax agree with the experimentally determined
value?

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Question 28: Examine the position vs time graph. At what time tmax does the puck reach
its highest point?

Question 29: Choose some time interval ∆t such that t− = tmax − ∆t and t+ = tmax + ∆t
both lie within your data range. What is the value of ∆t you chose, and what are the
positions of the puck at t− and t+ , according to the position vs time graph?

Question 30: How does your answer to the previous question compare with what you
predicted in section 1.2?

Question 31: Examine the velocity vs time graph. At what time is the velocity equal to
zero? Is your answer consistent with what you would expect? Explain why or why not.

Question 32: For the same time interval ∆t, what are the velocities of the puck at t− and
t+ , according to the velocity vs time graph?

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Question 33: How does your answer to the previous question compare with what you
predicted in section 1.2?

Question 34: Do the position versus time, velocity vs time, and acceleration vs time graphs
agree with what you would expect for motion with constant acceleration? Explain.

B: Last Checkpoint! Before being dismissed from the lab, discuss your
results as a group, then have your TA evaluate your answers. Be sure
A: to sign the grade sheet before you leave.

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