09/14/2016 : Trajectories

Lab #5: Trajectories
Name:   Charles Xu,
Partner: Anthony, Michell
Date:     09/14/2016

Statement:
It is an experiment to predict the impact point of a ball on an inclined board(second set of the experiment) by collecting data and data analysis from first set of the experiment .

Theory:
We want to find the impact point that a ball roll off from an inclined board. We used the understanding of projectile motion to collect datas we needed. We use ∆x=VoxT and ∆y=Voy+1/2aT^2 to find the initial velocity and time interval. Then we calculated the impact point on another inclined board.

Summary:
First part of the experiment, we set up the equipment with an inclined board, ring stand on the table. Then we predicted the area that the steel ball will land when it rolls off from the inclined. We taped a piece of paper on the ground with a piece of carbon paper on it. We let the steel ball rolled off the inclined fives times and measure the distance of X-direction (Distance from impact point to the bottom of the table), and distance of Y-direction (Distance from edge of the table to the ground). We measured with uncertainty and do the calculation to find the initial velocity. 

Second part of the experiment, we set up the equipment with another inclined board at the edge of the table. Therefore, when the ball rolls off the inclined board on the table, it will land on the board at the bottom. We first used data we collected from part one to calculate the landing spot on the board. Then we do the experiment five times. The experiment result support our calculation very well.

Setup for the first part of the experiment

Setup for the second part of the experiment

Setup for the second inclined board

Five impact points we recorded for part two

Calculation of both experiment

Conclusion:

As we measured, five impact points landed on 0.44m +- 0.005m from the edge of the board. which is equivalent to our calculation result. This is a successful experiment. We decreased the error by testing the experiment serval times and we tape our paper on the ground nicely to decrease human error. For measurement, we usually measure more times with different person. This will decrease the reading error, which might affect the experiment result.