Fan Cart Lab

Purpose:

    In this lab we are able to understand the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. Because of Newtons 1st, 2nd, and 3rd law and the Four Forces in Nature we are able to understand this theory better. Visual explanations of the lab could be drawn by Free Body Diagrams and Interaction Diagrams. These diagrams show us the Four Forces in Nature that are used in different kinds of situations. 

  To figure out the relationship we used a fan cart, spring, force probe, 5 different weights, and loggerpro application. This lab will also show us the difference in the velocity and acceleration of the fan cart when we put the 5 different weights.

 

Key Information: 

   First we measured the force of the fan cart without any weight on it and got F= .2338 N. Once we figured out the force we started to measure the slope of the velocity with 5 different weights. We  measured the heaviest weight first, which was 1 kg and measured the lightest weight last, which was .05 kg. In the graphs below(from left to right)it shows the force of the fan cart by itself, the slope of each trial with the different kinds of weight on it. 

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  Once we collected all of our data we began to make an equation that describes the relationship between mass, force, and acceleration.We came up with F= ma( force=mass x acceleration). We came up with this equation because we found out that the greater the mass on an object the slower it accelerates and less mass on an object means the faster it accelerates. To test if this equation is accurate, we multiplied the mass and slope to see if the result is around .2338 N, the force. Since we did add weight onto the fan cart, we had to change the mass/weight:

Key Conclusions: 

   From this lab we found out the relationship, which is F=ma. But after we finished the lab we went into a deeper understanding of this equation. Newtons 1st law is that in an object at rest or moving at constant speed will stay that way until it experiences a net force, which leads us into the 2nd law. Because of Newtons's 2nd Law, which is that forces don't cause velocity, they only cause acceleration, the net force is required to accelerate an object. The two types of diagrams help us to visually understand this. For example, in a free body diagram an object moves 130N rightward and 80N leftward. The net force magnitude is 50N and the net force direction is right because when you move 130N and 80N you are left with 50N and since the direction is positive, the direction is to the right. And finally, Newton's 3rd Law proves that 2 forces are equal, opposite, and same type(gravity, electromagnetism). 

Ex: of Newtons Laws

     

Real Life Connection:

  An example of Newtons Laws would be someone in a car when it's at rest, speeding up, moving at constant speed, and slowing down. In the drawing below we see the relationship of the acceleration and velocity. When the car is speeding up the acceleration and velocity are both positive because the car is accelerating to the right(positive) and moving right(positive). When the car is moving at constant speed the acceleration is 0 and the velocity is positive because when the car is moving at constant speed, its not accelerating but the car is still moving, which is why a=o and v= +. And when the car is slowing down, a= - and v=+ because when a car is slowing down its accelerating to the left(negative) but its still moving to the right(positive).