Copy of Centripetal Acceleration Lab PHY 11

Centripetal Acceleration Lab Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to experimentally determine how force (F) is proportional to the period (1/T²) of the centripetal motion of the device used. Procedure: 1. First obta ...

Centripetal Acceleration Lab Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to experimentally determine how force (F) is proportional to the period (1/T²) of the centripetal motion of the device used. Procedure: 1. First obtain a rubber stopper, string/yard, a paperclip, a small clear tube, and some coin weights. Also, obtain a stopwatch or a device that can be used to count the time in seconds. 2. The length of the string does not have to be a certain amount, but it is suggested to measure and cut about 8-10 inches of string. 3. Then, tie the string/yarn around the rubber stopper tightly to ensure that it will not fall out from the string’s grasp. 4. Next, feed this string/yarn through the clear tube. The end of the string will be used to tie around the coin weights 5. Weigh each of the coin weights that are going to be utilized in the experiment. This experiment requires ten different masses, so measure out 10 coin weights at the minimum. a. Note: Each of the coin weights may look similar, but their masses will differ from one another. Therefore, be sure to measure each of the weights going to be used in the experiment separately. i. To make this easier, label each of the coin weights with a number from 1 to 10, and record each of their masses down next to their labelled number. This will avoid any confusion between the coin weights, and the mass of each coin can be easily obtained by looking at the data recorded down in the notebook. 6. Next, convert the masses of the coin weights into Newtons (for force). To do this, divide their mass in grams by 1000 to obtain their mass in kilograms. Then multiply the resulting kilogram mass by 9.8 to obtain the force in Newtons. a. Remember: FN = mg (m stands for mass and g stands for the gravitational constant of 9.8 m/s^2) 7. Tie the end of the string around one of the coin weights, and record its specific force down. 8. Then, weave the paperclip horizontally th