NEWTON'S SECOND LAW OF
MOTION
Lab Group 7
1. Gökhan Demirci
2. Muhammet Yıldırım
3. Mustafa Emirhan Özer
4. Mehmet Kağan Arslan
5. Ahmet Hakan Kavsara
6. Tufan Mudarasız
Date 12.12.2024
PHY 101 FALL2024
Instructor: Merve İzmirli
Number of pages: 10
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Table of Contents
Lab Group #? 0
Table of Contents 1
PRE-LAB QUESTIONS 2
Figure 1: Cart and hanging mass system diagram 2
ABSTRACT 4
OBJECTIVES 4
EQUIPMENT 4
PROCEDURE 5
Figure 2: Experimental Setup 5
DATA, PLOTS AND SAMPLE CALCULATIONS 6
Table 1: Mass, Position, Time Measurements 6
Figure 3: Fnet vs a graph. 8
Figure 4: a vs Fnet graph. 9
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 9
1
ABSTRACT
In this experiment, we observed the change in acceleration by altering the mass of an
object and the net force acting on it, based on Newton's second law. We observed that as
the net force on the object increased and its mass decreased, its acceleration also
increased. Based on these results, we can conclude that acceleration changes depending
on the mass and net force acting on the object.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this experiment are:
1. Identify the forces acting on an object when it is accelerating.
2. Collect force and acceleration data as a system of cart and load is moving under
changing forces on a track.
3. Use graphical methods to determine the relationship between the cart’s
acceleration and the net force applied to it.
4. Determine the effect of the mass on the relationship between acceleration and
force experimentally.
EQUIPMENT
1. A low friction track with a cart.
2. A cart, various masses, string, low friction pulley (See the setup figure below).
3. Electronic scale for measuring the masses.
4. A stopwatch.
5. Computer with the Data Tool. Click here to download the data tool.
PROCEDURE
The setup of the experiment is shown below. You will get yourself familiar with the
setup in the laboratory. You will run the system with different hanging masses and
observe the change in the acceleration.
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Figure 2: Experimental Setup
You will work out on filling the data Table below. In each row both M1 and M2 is
changed but the total M=M1+M2 will be the same. M1 and M2 consist of a cart, a
hanger and small mass units (disks). By transferring these disks from cart to the
hanger you will employ this change in M1 and M2.
1. You weight the mass of the cart and the mass of the hanger using the electronic
scale. You will be provided some number of disk masses. You can measure these
masses by using the electronic scale. You will also determine the total of all masses
(cart, hanger and all disk masses included). Let the total mass be M and record
this measured total mass in the Table (the 3rd column in the Table). At the end,
you will determine this total mass, M, by graphical methods experimentally and
you will compare the experimental value to the measured total mass M.
2. You will start with most of the disks on the cart. You record the total mass of cart
(including the disk masses) and the total mass of the hanger. The total mass of the
hanger is M1 and the total mass of the cart is M2. You bring the hanger to the
highest point and release the cart. The cart will travel a distance L in t seconds
and record these values in the Table. Your instructor will explain how you can
determine the acceleration. You will record M1, M2, M, L, t, Fnet and acceleration
a in the Table below. Do not forget to record the error values in each quantity.
3. Next, you will transfer some of the disks to the hanger and repeat previous the
procedure to determine the acceleration and record the values to the next row in
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the table.
4. After filling out all rows of the table you will plot Fnet (=M1 g) versus a
(acceleration) by using the Data Tool software and using the curve fit find the total
mass M experimentally from the slope. Compare your result with the measured
value and comment on the difference.
Please determine your visual reaction time before you come to the lab by using this
link. This will be your time measurement error in Table 1.
DATA, PLOTS AND SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
Table 1: Mass, Position, Time Measurements
M ± ΔM: … ± … kg
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Data M1 ± ΔM M2 ± ΔM x ± Δx t ± Δt Fnet ± ΔFnet a ± Δa (average
of 3 or 6
(kg) (kg) (m) (s) measurements)
(m/s2)
1 1.710±0.001 0.050±0.00 x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s 0.333±0.1
kg 1 0.189±0.00215
kg x1 0.400±0.001 t1 1.45± 0.18s 8 m/s2
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 2.44±0.18s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 1.68±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 2.46±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 1.74±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 2.50±0.18 s
2 1.660±0.001 0.100±0.00 x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s 0.788±0.1 0.448±0.00215
kg 1 8 m/s2
kg x1 0.400±0.001 t1 1.16±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.69±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 1.04±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.59±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 1.03±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.58±0.18 s
3 1.610±0.001 0.150±0.00 x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s 1.17±0.1 0.663±0.00215
kg 1 8 m/s2
kg x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.74±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.19±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.81±0.18 s
5
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.11±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.83±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.30±0.18 s
4 1.590±0.001 0.170±0.00 x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s 1.25±0.1 0.713±0.00215
kg 1 8 m/s2
kg x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.73±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.13±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.71±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.13±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.72±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.15±0.18 s
5 1.570±0.001 0.190±0.00 x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s 1.90±0.1 1.074±0.00215
kg 1 8 m/s2
kg x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.68±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.01±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.72±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 0.99±0.18 s
x0 0.000 t0 0.00 s
x1 0.400±0.001 t1 0.58±0.18 s
x2 0.800±0.001 t2 1.11±0.18 s
If you can use a stopwatch with lap times to collect time data, you will use the
expression below to calculate acceleration. You can also utilize the Excel file by
clicking here.
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( )
2 𝑥2−𝑥1 𝑡1−2𝑥1 𝑡2−𝑡1 ( )
𝑎=
(𝑡 −𝑡 )𝑡 −𝑡 (𝑡 −𝑡 )
2
2
2
1 1
2
1 2 1
or (alternatively),
If you cannot use a stopwatch with lap times, you can obtain the times corresponding
to each position separately. In this case, you will use the expression below to calculate
acceleration.
2𝑥𝑖
𝑎= 2 𝑖 = 1, 2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑗 = 1, 2, 3
𝑡𝑗
1. Show how you determined Fnet ± ΔFnet for the first row:
2. Show how you determined a for the first row:
3. Make a plot of Fnet (vertical axis) versus a (horizontal axis) using “Data Tool” to
produce the plot.
Put the screenshot of the plot below:
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Figure 3: Fnet vs a graph.
4. Swap the axes so that the vertical axis is a and the horizontal axis is Fnet. When
you check the “auto fit” box at the left-bottom, you will produce a new rms dev
value, which is the error or uncertainty of your acceleration calculation: 0.002158
m/s2.
Put the screenshot of the plot below:
Figure 4: a vs Fnet graph.
5. Calculate the uncertainty of the slope for Fnet versus a graph.
Put your work here.
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RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
We determined the slope of the Fnet vs. a graph as 1.766 using the data tool. The
RMS value of 3.812E-3 represents the uncertainty in Fnet, which we calculated as
0.333. These values are consistent. There are negligible deviations between the
measured mass value and the slope of the graph. This deviation results from
random and systematic errors. Random errors occurred due to time
measurement, while systematic errors arose from length and mass
measurements. According to the results that above, we observed that increasing
the net force and decreasing the object's mass caused its acceleration to increase.
These findings verify Newton's second law.
