Measurement of acceleration

Apparatus

Ticker timer and tape, suitable low-voltage a.c. power supply, dynamics trolley, runway and laboratory jack or stand.

Procedure

• Set up the apparatus as in the diagram.
• Connect the ticker timer to a suitable low-voltage power supply.
• Allow the trolley to roll down the runway.
• The trolley is accelerating as the distance between the spots is increasing.
• The time interval between two adjacent dots is 0.02 s, assuming the ticker timer marks fifty dots per second.
• Mark out five adjacent spaces near the beginning of the tape. Measure the length $s_1$.

The time $t_1$ is 5 × 0.02 = 0.1 s.

• We can assume that the trolley was travelling at constant velocity for a small time interval. Thus

[series of dots with equal spacing]

• Similarly mark out five adjacent spaces near the end of the tape and find the final velocity $v$
• Measure the distance $s$ in metres from the centre point of $u$ to the centre point of $v$
• The acceleration is found using the formula
• By changing the tilt of the runway different values of acceleration are obtained. Repeat a number of times.
• Tabulate results as shown.

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Measurement of acceleration

Results

Note