Acceleration Due to Gravity: Lab Report

Name: ______________________
Date: _______________________

Gravity causes objects to be accelerated towards the ground. To see evidence of this, you need only push a pencil off the side of your desk. In this lab activity, you will use a multi-media element to assist you in determining the rate at which gravity causes objects to be pulled towards the ground. 

Purpose: 
The purpose of this lab activity is to determine the rate of acceleration due to gravity.

Hypothesis: 
Predict the general shape of a position-time graph and a velocity-time graph that results from an object falling due to gravity. Explain why you believe the graph will be the shape you have drawn. 

	     	Graph 1		___________________________________________	
  					___________________________________________
       					___________________________________________
					___________________________________________
					___________________________________________

		Δt					

		Graph 2
					___________________________________________	
  					___________________________________________
       					___________________________________________	
  					___________________________________________
					___________________________________________
    
		Δt

Materials:
In addition to this sheet and the multi-media element, you will require a calculator and graph paper.
Method:
The instructions for the activity are in the multi-media element itself. Be sure to record all necessary results as you are working through the lab activity.

Results:
Choose any ten heights from which to drop the ball. You should make an effort to choose values that are spread out over the full range available.

Height from which object was dropped
()	Time of fall
(Δt)	Velocity with which object hits the ground  ()
This can be calculated using the equation: , where = 0 m/s.	

			

			

			

			

			

			

			

			

			

			

Analysis:
1.	Use the data to plot a position-time graph.
2.	Complete the table above by calculating the final velocities for each height.
3.	Use the data to plot a velocity-time graph. Draw in the line-of-best-fit and find the slope of the line (round off your answer to one decimal point). The slope of the line is equal to the acceleration due to gravity.
4.	Compare your graphs to the ones you predicted.
5.	You were asked to record the time needed for the ball to fall to the ground from ten different heights. Why do you think it was necessary to do so many trials instead of just doing it once and using that as the final value? 
Conclusions:
Complete the following concluding statement: In this lab activity, the acceleration due to gravity was found to be ___________________.