Elise Livingston
Centripetal Force Lab
Purpose
Our challenge was to design an experiment that will establish the relationship between centripetal force and angular velocity. We were to decide what data should be collected and graphed in order to assist in your development of a mathematical model to describe the relationship.
Equipment
- Hollow tube
- Stop Watch
- Nylon String
- Rubber Stopper
- Steel Washers
- Meter Stick
- Stop Watch
- Nylon String
- Rubber Stopper
- Steel Washers
- Meter Stick
Procedure
- We began by finding the mass of all of the parts in our experiment, such as the rubber stopper and the washers.
- We took the rubber stopper and used a bowline knot to attatch it with the string.
- We then fed the string through the hollow tube.
- Then we tied the washers that we took the mass of earlier to the other end of the string.
- Finally was used the meter stick to measure that the radius (string length) was 50 cm.
- We used a stop watch and allowed someone to swing the part of the mechanism with the rubber stopper attatched in a way that the radius remained 50 cm and the washers remained stationary at the bottom of the mechanism.
- We recorded time for 10 revolutions.
- We took the rubber stopper and used a bowline knot to attatch it with the string.
- We then fed the string through the hollow tube.
- Then we tied the washers that we took the mass of earlier to the other end of the string.
- Finally was used the meter stick to measure that the radius (string length) was 50 cm.
- We used a stop watch and allowed someone to swing the part of the mechanism with the rubber stopper attatched in a way that the radius remained 50 cm and the washers remained stationary at the bottom of the mechanism.
- We recorded time for 10 revolutions.
Data
Mass of stopper: 20.1 g
Mass of weights: 32.3 g
Radius of string: 50 cm
Mass of weights: 32.3 g
Radius of string: 50 cm
Analysis
We found that the best fit curve for our data points was q
Conclusion
We graphed the Force vs. Tangential Velocity and easily found that the relationship between the two is quadratic. Specifically, the relationship is 0.0066x^2 + 0.047x - 0.000122. We must, however, consider the great amount of possible error in the lab results. We took data from all of the different groups within the class, therefore, there would have been different methods of swinging and various inaccuracies with the opertaion of a stop watch or regarding to how many revolutions were measured at a time. Also, there may have been inconsistancies of radius length and even human calculation error. Although the lab probably encompassed a great amount of error, we did learn, for sure, that the relationship between Centripetal Force and Tangetial Velocity is quadratic.
