Lab Report

Purpose

In this experiment, we were trying to find the relationship between the amount of force and acceleration of an object. We used Force, Acceleration, Distance, and Weight to find these figures.

Procedure

The procedure involved setting up the pulley for the weights, and adding weights to increase the amount of force on the other end. We recorded distance and time o find the acceleration of the mass, and then compared this figure to the force. We added more weight and then repeated these steps 3 more times. Each time increasing the weight and then compared the figures of all our results.

Apparatus

Items used in this lab included: a pulley, a set of weights, a piece of string, a meter stick, and a stopwatch.

Causes of Error

Causes of error in this lab mostly fall on measurement errors. Specific examples of this are measuring the distance to the table. If this figure was off, all of the measurements after are wrong. Acceleration relies on distance to be found, so if the distance was off, the acceleration was also off, making a bad comparison to the force. And the other cause for error in our experiment may have been the timing. If the time was off, then the acceleration would have been affected again. Thus, changing the results.

Conclusion

Overall, our results were very far off. Our closest result was actually 26% off. Obviously we did something wrong, which is more than likely a measurement error. Our final result in this lab should have been a lot closer than it was, but I think our group now understands the relationship of force and acceleration a little more clearly now. Overall, I found this lab helpful in my understanding of the concepts, even thought the results turned out wrong.