Circular Motion
Partners: Mary Schaude and Hunter McCabe
Date: 5/29/14-
Date: 5/29/14-
Purpose
To find out what the centripetal acceleration is in a horizontal circle using a merry-go-round.
Theory
Centripetal acceleration occurs when an object is moving in a circular path at a constant speed. The tangential speed is also constant, however it changes direction as it rotates. The equation for centripetal (radial) acceleration is:
where ar represents centripetal acceleration, v is velocity, and r is the radius of the circle. To find the horizontal acceleration, we will employ the equations:
The first equation, as previously said, is used to find the centripetal acceleration. The second equation is to find velocity since we do not know it. The top part of the fraction is the circumference and the bottom is time since velocity is distance divided by time. Because V is squared, you double the equation. Finally, the fourth equation is the combination of the third and the equation for centripetal acceleration.
Experimental Technique
Apparatus:
-Merry-go-round -Horizontal Accelerometer -Stopwatch -Tape Measure Procedure: 1. Find a merry-go-round. 2. Charge it like a rabid dingo to scare away the children. 3. Measure the radius. 4. Have the partner with the horizontal accelerometer spin the merry-go-round then jump on while the other stands off to the side with the stopwatch. 5. Have the partner with the stopwatch measure the period. 6. Have the partner that is on the merry-go-round find the angle on the horizontal accelerometer. 7. Calculate centripetal acceleration. 8. Use percent difference to compare measurements. |
Data
Analysis
Conclusion
The two major challenges of this lab were finding a merry-go-round and deriving the equations to find the centripetal acceleration. Performing the experiment and making the tools was an easy task. There was a small percent difference between the answers of the two equations showing how accurate we were in our measurements. If we were to do the experiment again, we could improve it by doing more time trials to acquire a better time.
References
Accelerometers: Theory and Operation. (n.d.). <i></i>. Retrieved May 29, 2014, from http://shascience.com/physics/accel_manual.pdf