Car and Ramp Lab Investigation

Purpose: Determine how fast the car will go down the ramp on different ramp heights.

How does the ramp height affect the velocity of the car?

Introduction: The CPO timer, attached with photogates A and B set 50 cm. apart, will measure the speed of the car. Different ramp heights will be used to determine different velocities of the car.

Materials:

CPO timer Photogates (A & B) Ramp and Car (meter stick)

Procedures:

1. Set up the ramp along with the car

2. Plug the CPO timer adapter into power outlet.

3. Place photogate A at 25 centimeters and photogate B at 75 centimeters.

4. The CPO timer should be set into Interval Mode before recording time.

5. Knobs in holes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 will be used to give the ramp different height angles.

6. Start stopwatch and record time as the car moves from the top of the ramp to the bottom.

7. A total of five different trials should be attempted on each hole.

8. Observe and record results into a data table.

9. Calculate velocity (distance over time) to determine the speed of the car as it goes down the ramp on different holes.

Results/Analysis:

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 580

100

120

140

160

180

89.64 90.32 90.38 90.37 89.99

119.3 119.79 119.33 119.62 119.45

143.02 142.69 143.43 143.34 142.4

163.51 163.29 163.72 162.55 161.81

179.46 181.29 180.83 180.31 179.72

Velocity of Car

Hole 2 Hole 4 Hole 6 Hole 8 Hole 10

cm/second

Velocity Data TableHoles: Trial(s): 1 2 3 4 5 Average2 84.64 s 90.32 s 90.38 s 90.37 s 89.99 s 88.99 cm/s4 119.30 s 119.79 s 119.33 s 119.62 s 119.45 s 119.49 cm/s6 143.02 s 142.69 s 143.43 s 143.34 s 142.40 s 142.98 cm/s8 163.51 s 163.29 s 163.72 s 162.55 s 161.81 s 162.98 cm/s10 179.46 s 181.29 s 180.83 s 180.31 s 179.72 s 180.32 cm/s

Observations:

There was a negative correlation of time as the ramp was set on different heights. Time decreased because the car was making less time to get from photogate A (on top) to photogate B (bottom). The different times were averaged along with the distance to get the velocities of each trial on the different holes. In this case, the holes played an important part as variables because they determined the steepness of the ramp that the car was being sent from. Trials on Hole 10 had the highest velocity, while Hole 1 were the lowest.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the experiment demonstrated that the ramp set on Hole 10 had a greater velocity (speed) than in the other holes. In order to explain why the car in hole 10 had a greater velocity and lowest time was because of the steepness of the ramp that it was set on. The angle of the ramp, along with gravity had a huge impact on the car movement from the top of the ramp to the bottom. The photogates helped measure the distance and time that the stopwatch (CPO) collected.