Experiment Mb-18cb

Measurement of 'g' (picket fence)


Description: The gravitational acceleration 'g' can be measured using the picket fence experiment in data studio. To setup this experiment, plug a photogate into the PASCO interface. Then open the data file provided by clicking on the link below. Click start to begin your measurements. Drop the picket fence through the photogate. Make sure that the photogate is high enough so that the picket fence can fall completely through it. The picket fence must completely pass through the photogate or the measurements that you get will not be correct. Once you are done with a data run, the computer will calculate the acceleration and velocity of the picket fence. It will graph the velocities and show the acceleration at each time on a table. The program will also calculate the average acceleration for each run. Click here for an data studio run that has already been completed. Click here for a blank version of the picket fence experiment.

 

Graph of a single data run. The acceleration obtained from these data is about 9.80m/s^2, as shown by the slope of the line.

 

Graph of velocities with linear fits. To make linear fits for your graph, click on the fit button on top of the graphs and scroll down to linear fit. The slope of the line represents the average acceleration during the run.

 

Above: Acceleration table; below: average acceleration table.

 

Materials: Photogate, computer, picket fence, PASCO interface.

 

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This page was last updated on Friday March 13, 2009 8:03 AM