Posted by Boje on September 26, 1998 at 21:02:29:
In Reply to: PHYSICS LAB I NEED BIG TIME HELP ASAP!!!!!!! posted by Wendy on September 26, 1998 at 13:55:45:
It has been 25 yrs. since I took a physics class, but I remember the experiment that Galilleo performed. Since no one else has volunteered in the past 7hrs., I'll give it a shot.
First, remember that acceleration due to gravitiy is 32 ft/ sec/sec. That is without the interfering drag produced by the friction of air, and the inclined plane.
However, the expression of acceleration should remain the same, except for those quantities, due to friction, therefore, the incline remaining the same, your results should reflect that consistent ratio of intervals expressed as squares, i.e. 1squared, 2 squared, 3 squared, etc. , regardless of the unit of measure.
The point is: acceleration must remain constant. Algabraically it is expressed as distance s (that the falling body covers) is equal to a constant A (which varies with the difference in the inclination of the plane) X (multiplied by) the square of the time t (that it takes to cover the distance). s=A times t squared (I apologize - I don't know how to represent mathematical superscripts on a computer keyboard)
Since your experiment only entails measuring the occurrances at intervals, and graphing the results, using different interval scales, you only need to figure out the relationship between these preselected intervals. The result you get is supposed to demonstrate a fact to you. The fact should be: that acceleration is constant.
I hope that I helped.
Boje
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