P1199205

Fundamental law of dynamics (Newton's second

law) with thedemonstration track and the timer
4-4

Physics Mechanics Energy conservation & impulse

   
Difficulty level Group size Preparation time Execution time

medium 2 20 minutes 10 minutes

Robert-Bosch-Breite 10 Tel.: 0551 604 - 0 [email protected]

37079 Göttingen Fax: 0551 604 - 107 www.phywe.de
P1199205

General information

Application

If a constant force acts on a body, it experiences a constant

acceleration. Its change in motion is proportional to the
accelerating force.

Here, on the roller track, the relationships between the

acceleration of a car and its mass or the accelerating force
are to be described.

Experiment set-up

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P1199205

Other information (1/2)

Students should be familiar with the basic concept and terminology of Newton's axioms
Prior and the classical equations of motion.
knowledge

Scientific The relationship between mass and acceleration is considered for different inertial
masses and different accelerating forces.
principle

Other information (2/2)

Learning Newton's 2nd axiom states that the change in motion of a body is proportional to the
force acting on it:
objective
F ⃗ = m ⋅ v⃗ = m ⋅ a⃗ 

Tasks 1. Determination of acceleration as a function of accelerated mass.

2. Determination of acceleration as a function of force.

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Safety instructions

The general instructions for safe experimentation in science lessons apply to this experiment.

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Equipment
Position Material Item No. Quantity
1 Demonstration track, aluminium, 1.5 m 11305-00 1
2 Cart, low friction sapphire bearings 11306-00 1
3 Shutter plate for low friction cart, width: 100 mm 11308-00 1
4 Starter system for demonstration track 11309-00 1
5 Magnet w.plug f.starter system 11202-14 1
6 Needle with plug 11202-06 1
7 Tube with plug 11202-05 1
8 End holder for demonstration track 11305-12 1
9 Plasticine, 10 sticks 03935-03 1
10 Pulley for demonstration track 11305-10 1
11 Holder for pulley 11305-11 1
12 Silk thread, l = 200 m 02412-00 1
13 Slotted weight, black, 10 g 02205-01 8
14 Slotted weight, black, 50 g 02206-01 4
15 Weight for low friction cart, 400 g 11306-10 1
16 Slotted weight, blank, 1 g 03916-00 20
17 Weight holder, silver bronze, 1 g 02407-00 1
18 Light barrier, compact 11207-20 2
19 Holder for light barrier 11307-00 2
20 PHYWE Timer 4-4 13604-99 1
21 Connecting cord, 32 A, 1000 mm, red 07363-01 4
22 Connecting cord, 32 A, 1000 mm, yellow 07363-02 5
23 Connecting cord, 32 A, 1000 mm, blue 07363-04 5
24 Portable Balance, OHAUS CR2200 48914-00 1

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Set-up and Procedure

Set-up (1/6)

1. In order to compensate for minor friction effects, the

track must be set at a slight angle using the adjusting
screws on the feet so that the measuring carriage just does
not start to roll to the right.

2. A launching device shall be installed at the left end of the

runway.

Note that to start the trolley with initial pulse, the starting
device must be mounted so that the punch moves away
from the measuring trolley when triggered.

Launching device without shock

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P1199205

Set-up (2/6)

3. A tube filled with plasticine is attached to the end bracket

at the right end of the track to slow the car down without
hard impact.

4. The deflection roller is attached to the right end of the

track with the holder for deflection roller and the
incremental wheel is inserted.

End bracket with plasticine

Set-up (3/6)

5. The measuring trolley is equipped with the holding

magnet with the plug as well as the cover for measuring
trolley (b = 100 mm).

6. The beginning of the thread is inserted from above into

the vertical hole of the carriage end cap and fixed by
inserting the needle with plug from the front.

Fastening the thread to the trolley

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Set-up (4/6)

7. The thread is placed over the incremental wheel of the

deflection pulley and knotted at the end to the weight plate
so that it hangs freely directly below the wheel, as shown in
the illustration. The weight plate together with the 5-20
slotted weights (1g each) lying on it serve as a constant
accelerating force. The thread must run parallel to the
track.

8. The mass of the trolley can be varied by means of the

weights.

Positioning of the weight plate

Set-up (5/6)

9. Two forked light barriers are mounted on the

carriageway with the light barrier holders and distributed
over the measuring section. Make sure that all light
barriers can be passed through by the rear part of the
aperture when the trolley is rolling.

10. The forked light barriers are connected to the sockets in

fields "1" and "3" of the timing device.

The yellow sockets of the light barriers are connected to

the yellow sockets of the measuring device, the red sockets
to the red sockets and the blue sockets of the light barriers
to the white sockets of the time measuring device.
Release of the light barriers after aperture
passage

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Set-up (6/6)

11. The starting device must be connected to the two

"Start" connection sockets of the timing device.

Make sure that the polarity is correct. The red socket of the
starting device is connected to the yellow socket of the
timing device.

12. The two slide switches on the timing device are set to
the right-hand position "falling edge" (      ) to select the
trigger edge.

Connecting the light barriers and the starting

device

Procedure (1/3)

1. The trolley should perform a uniformly accelerated movement due to the weight plate.

Its acceleration is determined as a function of the total inertial mass and also as a function of the
accelerating mass.

For this purpose, the mass of the wagon is first determined with a scale without the black-painted
additional weights.

2. The trolley is released by the starter and experiences a constant acceleration until the weight plate
touches the ground.

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P1199205

Procedure (2/3)

3. To determine the acceleration of the car, a measurement is made in mode 5 (             ).

Here two of the light barriers are passed through and simultaneously both the required time ti to reach the
respective light barrier as well as shading time Δti is determined for the duration of the light barrier
interruption.

The times for covering the distances are shown on the digital displays 1 and 3, the shading times on the
displays 2 and 4.

4. The acceleration of the car results from the velocity-time law to

v(t) b/Δt
v(t) = a ⋅ t ⇔ a = t = t

with the aperture length b =100mm.

Procedure (3/3)

5. To determine the acceleration as a function of mass, a series of

measurements is taken in which the mass of the trolley is increased in
steps of about 10-50 g, while the accelerating mass on the weight plate
remains constant.

6. When measuring acceleration as a function of force, the total mass

shall remain constant and the accelerating force shall be Fg be changed.
This is achieved by a mass transfer from the carriage to the weight plate.

It is advisable to initially place approx. ten 1 g slotted weights on the

Additional weights for force trolley (see illustration) and to gradually move one of them onto the
measurement weight plate for each measurement. The accelerating mass should not
exceed 20 g.

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P1199205

Evaluation (1/9)

Observation

Increasing the inertial mass while keeping the accelerating force constant will cause the car to move slower.

A redistribution of mass causes changes in acceleration, because although the total mass remains the same,
only the mass of the weight actuator contributes to the acceleration of the car.

Evaluation (2/9)

Measurement example 1

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Evaluation (3/9)

a) Acceleration as a function of inertial mass

1. An example measurement for determining the dependence of mass and acceleration is shown in the
measurement table example 1.

The total mass results from the mass of the trolley M

consisting of its unloaded weight M0 , the additional
M m
weights applied Z and from the constant mass of the weight plate.

t
2. The measured times i and Δt b
i result via the velocity-time-law, together with the aperture length , from
a
the acceleration directly acting on the car i which, within the scope of the measurement accuracy, can be
regarded as constant at both light barriers and can therefore be averaged as

am = a1+2 a2 .

Evaluation (4/9)

a
3. The figure shows the acceleration m caused by the
m
mass = 10 g, as a function of the inertial mass M +m
.

As the inertial mass increases, the acceleration of the car

decreases.

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Evaluation (5/9)

4. In this figure, the same measured values are now

plotted against the reciprocal of the inertial mass
1 / (M + m) . A linear dependence results, which is derived
from Newton's equation of motion.

In the present case, it is a one-dimensional movement,

which is caused by the force

Fg = m ⋅ g
consisting of the mass m of the weight plate and the
acceleration due to gravity g.

Evaluation (6/9)

5. As this mass is directly connected to the trolley, the equilibrium of forces will result

F − g = m ⋅ g = (M + m) ⋅ a = FB
F F
between the weight force g and the force resulting in the movement of the entire system B . From this
follows the linearity between the acceleration and the reciprocal inertial mass shown in Figure 2:
m ⋅g
a= M +m ∝
1
M +m .
The evaluation of the measurement example shown provides a slope of 0.0946 kg-m/s² = 0.0946 N, which is
m g
in agreement with the theoretical value ⋅ = 0, 0981  . N

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Evaluation (7/9)

Measurement example 2

Evaluation (8/9)

b) Acceleration as a function of force

1. The measurement example 2 table shows the values for a measurement of the dependence of
acceleration and accelerating mass. While the total mass M +m m
remained constant, the mass of the
weight plate is increased step by step.

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Evaluation (9/9)

2. The linear dependence, which also results from the

equilibrium of forces, is shown in this figure.

The slope of the measurement example provides a

1
proportionality factor of 0.986 kg , which corresponds to an
inertial mass of 1.014 kg and thus corresponds
approximately the actual total mass of 0,967kg.

Notes

1. To reduce the distance between the weight adjuster and the incremental wheel, the thread length can be
shortened by turning the needle with plug several times on the carriage, thus winding up the thread.

Δ
2. The shading times ti were used to determine the velocities of the trolley. Since the car continues to be
accelerated as it passes through the light barrier, these calculated velocities are not, strictly speaking,
instantaneous velocities, which explains the deviations of a few percent of the results from the theoretical
values.

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37079 Göttingen Fax: 0551 604 - 107 www.phywe.de