FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL 35

CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE

CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
Introduction
The purpose of this experiment is to nd the mass of a cart and the coefcient of static
friction for the cart on an inclined plane.
The exercise is designed to give you an understanding of:
- Newton's setond uw
- lrtton
- 1he uddton und subtrutton ol lortes
- Lntertuntes
What to do before you get to lab
1) Read and make notes on the following preliminary information
2) Review the relevant section of your textbook (Chapter 5) for a more detailed account of
the theory
3) Complete the preliminary problems for this exercise on Moodle
4) Read through the rest of this exercise so that you will know what to do in the laboratory
5) Watch the video about this experiment, the link can be found on Moodle
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
36 FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL
Preliminary Problems
Background
Imagine a trolley of mass M and ramp set up as shown in the diagram below.
Making the assumption that the cart moves up the slope with acceleration a
+
, as shown in
the diagram, we can use Newtons second law to write two equations of motion for this
system:
ma
+
mg T
Ma
+
T M g sin M g n
s
cos
These equations can be solved simultaneously to give (make sure you can do this!):

If the cart is moving down the slope then the frictional force will act in the opposite
direction. Newtons second law for the masses become (in this case the cart is moving
down the slope in the negative direction):
ma

= mg T
Ma

= T M g sin 0 + M g n
s
cos 0
This can be solved to give:
Mg
F
f
T
T
mg
a
+
N
a
+
=
m M sin M n
s
cos
g
M + m
(1)
a

=
m M sin 0 M n
s
cos 0
g (2)
M + m
FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL 37
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
Your task is to calculate n
s
and M, the mass of the cart and block placed on the cart. You
will measure a
+
and a

. During the experiment you will vary the hanging mass, m. You may
assume g = 9.797ms
2
.

CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
38 FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL
Equipment
For your work in the laboratory you will need the following
- A rump
- A puey
- A protruttor
- A LubPro dutu nterlute wth u power tube, LS tube und u tube to uttuth to the
motion sensor
- Moton sensor
- A set ol musses (the untertunty n these musses s 2.5%)
- A butk unknown muss (don't wegh t!)
- A turt wth threud uttuthed
- A wooden botk
You will also need to use one of the computers.
In the Laboratory
Connect up your LabPro interface by plugging the
USB cable into the USB port of one of the iMac
computers. The USB port is on the right hand side of
the computer, right near where the keyboard plugs
in. Connect up the power of the LabPro interface as
well. Connect the lead from the motion sensor into
DIG SONIC 1.
The motion sensor works by sending out short bursts
of sound. The sound reects of the cart and this echo
is analysed by the sensor. The distance between the
bursts and the time it takes the compete burst to
return are used with the speed of sound to calculate
the velocity of and distance to the object.
Any objects (such as people) moving in front of the detector will also be detected and will
return spurious readings. Please make sure that there is no one moving in front of your
sensor when you take measurements. It can detect movement up to 6 meters away.
There is a template le on the computer for this experiment called Cart on an inclined
Plane. You will need to open this to record data during this experiment. By selecting Data
Collection from the Experiment menu ensure that you are recording 30 measurements
every second.
DI G/ SONI C
1
FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL 39
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
The string should be tied to the cart and the masses. Thread it over the pulley. Place the
motion sensor at the bottom of the inclined plane. Choose a small angle for your track,
around 2
o
or 3
o
, (this is important as it allows you to make the assumption later that sin0).
Place the black unknown mass on the cart. Do not change the angle during any part of the
experiment. The cart should roll down the track, if it does not you will need to increase the
angle. The equipment should be set up as shown in the photos below.
You will now need to collect data to calculate a
+
and a

. To start with nd the smallest

carrier mass, m, that will cause the trolley to move up the ramp. Use a mass 5g greater than
this mass. Release the mass from rest and start the motion sensor. The acceleration should
be constant. Acceleration can be calculated from the gradient on the velocity time graph.
Use the Linear Fit tool to help you. Make sure that you select an appropriate part of your
graph to calculate the acceleration from. Ask your demonstrator if you are unsure about
black unknown mass
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
40 FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL
how to do this. Your screen should look similar to the screenshot below.
You will need to repeat this at least twice. Remember that the mass carrier has a mass of
5g, this needs to be included in m. Record the information in the table below, include
uncertainties (for the mean):
Angle, :

Hanging mass, m :

Calculate the uncertainty in this measurement. You may assume that the percentage
uncertainty is the same for all accelerations up the slope.
Now keep the angle, , constant and repeat this experiment for at least another four values
of a
+
, make sure you include uncertainties. Note that uncertainties can be tted into the
cells in the table next to the values. To change a
+
adjust the mass, increasing the mass in
increments of 5g works well. You will be given a mark for accuracy in this experiment so
the more values you collect the better!
Acceleration, a
+
(ms
-2
)
Trial 1
Trail 2
Trial 3
Average
FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL 41
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
m (g) a
+
(ms
-2
)

You will now perform the experiment with smaller hanging masses in order to nd a

. Do
not change . Start with 2g less than the largest mass for which the cart will move down the
slope.

Hanging mass, m :
Acceleration, a

, (ms
-2
)
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Average
Slowly decrease the mass (in increments of 2g), recording the values of a

for each mass.

Complete the table below, include uncertainties. Remember to record the negative sign
in front on you values for a

. You can assume all a

values have the same percentage

uncertainty.
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
42 FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL
m (g) a

(ms
-2
)

You have now nished collecting data and it is time to analyse the results. Open the excel
le called Cart on an inclined plane graph. This le will perform a least squares t on the
data to produce two straight lines, one for a
+
and one for a

.
In the space below record the equations for the line a
+
and a

.
a
+
: y =
y =
y =
a

: y =
y =
y =
Let m
+
be the mass when a
+
= 0 (the x-intercept of the a
+
line) and m

be the mass when

a

= 0 (the x-intercept of the a

line). Use the data you have recorded above to calculate m

+

and m

with uncertainties.
Hint: What is the value of y for the x intercept? Insert this value into the equations above to
nd x. You can use the three values to calculate the uncertainty.
FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL 43
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
In the space below use equations (1) and (2), in the background information to show that:
m
+
m

2 M n
s
cos
m
+
+ m

2 M sin
Use your values for m
+
and m

to calculate M (mass of cart + block) and then n

s
. You should
comment on the size of the uncertainties however you do not need to calculate them
as this is very involved due to the sin term. For details, look at the notes on calculating
uncertainties for this experiment, which can be downloaded from Moodle.
It is also possible to calculate M in another way. If you take the derivative of equation (1)
you get:
This is the gradient of the a
+
line on your graph. This equation looks complicated but we
can make some simplications. The mass m is much smaller than M and is small.

Show that we can simplify this to:
da
+
=
g M
( 1 sin n
s
cos )
dm ( m + M )
2
da
+

g
( 1 n
s
)
dm M
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
44 FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL
Likewise from equation (2) we can obtain:
We can use these equations to get:
Use your gradients to calculate M and n
s
. Include uncertainties. Comment on how the size
of the uncertainties compared to your value for n
s
.
da
+

da

=
2g
n
s
dm dm M
da
+
+
da

=
2g
dm dm M
da

g
( 1 n
s
)
dm M
FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL 45
CART ON AN INCLINED PLANE
Now weigh your cart. Record the value of M.
M =
Which of these methods do you think is most accurate? Why?
Did you achieve the aim of this experiment? Explain. If not what could be changed?
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46 FIRST YEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL
Marking Guidelines
Get your demonstrator to tick these boxes as you go:

Recorded rst piece of data for a
+
, and calculated uncertainty, units included
Completed table for a
+
with uncertainties
Completed table for a

with uncertainties
Derived results using m
+
and m

Calculated m
+
and m

and used to calculate M and n

s
Derived result for da
+
/dm
Calculated M and n
s
with uncertainties and units
Answered questions intelligently
M lies within error bars of M calculated in experiment and these error bars are
calculated correctly i.e. Accurate measurements
Finished and packed up 20 minutes before end of lab session
Total: /10
Demonstrators signature:______________________________
Student Name: _________________________________________
Student ID Number: z_______________________