Question

In lab you will roll a cart down a nearly frictionless incline set at a small angle. The cart will start at rest and travel a distance of 30.0cm±0.2cm. After travelling, the flag will pass through the photogate in order to measure the speed, vf or v30 (the speed at the end of the 30.0cm trip).

Size of flag: d(flag width)=1.50cm±0.10cm

Time through photogate t(blocked) = 0.02095s±0.00010s

You know the initial speed, final speed, and distance the cart travels (not d(flag width)).

Which of the four constant acceleration kinematic equations should you use to determine the acceleration?

1. Equation choice:
2. Solve equation for a:
3. Find the percent error of the acceleration:
4. Find the absolute error of the acceleration:

Provide final answer in following format:

a=__________m/s2±__________%

a=__________±__________m/s2

Answer 1

size of the flag which is mounted on the moving cart is:

which passes through the sensor in time:

velocity of the cart at the end of the trip ( )

and error in velocity ()

Thus, the velocity of the cart at the end of the trip =  

Similarly, acceleration: can be calculated as

& error in acceleration is

Thus, acceleration =  

Using the FBD as shown below

and assuming mass of the cart be , we can write

where, is small i.e. , that is to be calculated,

is the acceleration of the cart such that, we get