NathanealSchager TimAiken KaleyKunzelman

MissionGravity
1 Introduction
Asaccomplishedscientist,wehavebeeninvitedtoastrange,unquantifiedplanettohelpthe aliensinhabitingitdeterminetowhatextentthehumanderivedformulaF=mgwillworkforthem. Wehaveaccesstofrictionlessrampswithcarts,pendulums,photogates,ultrasonicsensors, andvariousstandardmeasuringequipment(ex.ruler,scale).

ResearchQuestion

Thealiensask:istheformulaF=mg,wheregisindependentofheightorposition,trueonour planetwhichhasanunknowncompositionandlotsofcaves?. Toaccomplishthisquestionourgrouptestedtwovariables(thelengthandmassofpendulums) andconductedoneerrorexperiment(howthetarelatestoperiod).Thosearepresentedas3ad, 4ad,and5adbelow.

3a

Experimentalmethod[1]

Tomeasuretheeffectthatmasshasontheaccelerationduetogravity,wesetupapendulum (comprisedofastringandamass)oflength98.6cm(measuredfromthetopofthestringtothe centerofthemass)thatswungthroughaphotogatehookeduptoacomputer.Eachmasswas weighedonacalibratedscaletodetermineitsmass.Werecordedatleastnineperiodsper differentmass(thoughweonlyusednineinthefinalcalculationsforthesakeofconsistency) andwereabletocomputethevalueofgasitvariesaccordingtomass.

3b

TheoreticalModel[1]

Bychangingthemasswhilekeepingallothervariablesconstant,wecouldusetheequation
T pendulum = 2

anddetermineifitvariesthroughmass.

L (whichcanberewrittenas g g

L = (2) )toobtainmultiplemeasurementsofg T2

3c

DataPlot[1]

3d

ComparisonofDatav.Model[1]

Ifvaryingthemasshadnoeffectontheforceofgravity,wewouldexpectthecomputedvaluesof gtobeveryclosetoeachother.Luckily,thisturnsouttobethecase,supportingthetheorythat gisaconstantforce.However,thoughthecomputedvaluesofgareclosetoeachother,they arenotcompletelyprecise.Thiserrorshouldnotbeattributedtoanyairresistance,whichwould changethelengthoftheperiodastimeprogressed,becausethelargeststandarddeviationina trialwas0.0025seconds,whichis10^3timessmallerthanthetimeperiodsweweremeasuring. Forthetwotrialswithlargemasses(652gand230g),theartificiallylownumberascomparedto themeancanbeattributedtotheoversimplificationofthependulumequation.Inreality,two moretermsshouldbeaddedon( 2 release,andwouldraisethevalueofgoverwhatwecomputed.Ifweassumethetatobearound 1 2 + 11 4 wouldaddupto1.002,orabout0.2% /10,thenthethetatermsintheequation: 1 + 16 3072 errorovertheoriginalsimplifiedequation.Wewereseeingabout0.8%errorinthefirsttwotrials whichisnotoutofrangeforissuesduetothenonperfectnessofpendulums.However,the periodforthe50gmassarelowerthanexpected,leadingtoahigherg.Thiscouldbeduetoan errorinthemeasurementofthestring.Ifweassumeabouta0.5%errorinmeasuring(around halfacentimeterover98.6cm),thatwouldmorethanaccountforthe0.2%errorthatwe encounteredinourthirdtest.

L g

1 2 * 16 + 2

L g

11 4 * 3072 ) ,whichaccountfortheangleof

4a

ExperimentalMethod[2]

Inanattempttoseehowvaryinglength(l)ofthependulumimpactsperiodandquantifythe uniformityofgfordifferentpendulumsystems,wesetupapendulumontheforeignalienplanet

consistingofamassof0.652kgandastringofvaryinglengths.Theperiodwascalculatedbya computerbyrecordingthetimetakenbetweentimeswhenthemasswouldswingthroughthe photogate(similartoExperimentalMethod[1]).Foreachtrial,wedroppedthemassfroman anglelessthan10degreesbetweenthedirectionofgravityandthetautstringofthependulum. Additionally,wemeasuredlengthfromthetopofthestring(whereitconnectedtothepivotpoint) tothecenterofthemassthatweattachedattheendofthestring.Werecorded10periodsper trialandusedsaiddatatocalculatetheexperimentalvalueofgforeachlength.

4b

TheoreticalModel[2]

Withtheequation T = 2(L g ) ,wecanplugintheperiodswecalculatedtoproducetheexpected valueofg.IftheequationF=maisinfactvalidonthisplanet,thenthevalueforgshouldntvary, regardlessofchangeinT.

4c

DataPlot[2]

4d

ComparisonofDatav.Model[2]

Inaperfectworld,gwouldremainaconstantvalueregardlessofchangeinlength,however,this alienplanetisnotsuchaperfectworld,andgwasnotaconstantvalue.Itwas,however,fairly consistentaveragingoutto9.66m/s^2withastandarddeviationof0.127,onlya1.31% difference.Thisdiscrepancycouldbeattributedtoanumberofthings,oneofwhichbeingthe factthatthestringwasassumedtobemassless,whichwouldskewthecenterofmassofthe massstringsystemupwardseversoslightly,moresoforthelatertrials.Thisinturnwould causeourlengthLtobemeasuredlongerthanactualityandourvalueofexperimentalgtobe toohigh.However,seeingasthemassofthestringissignificantlylessthanthatofthemass(ml <<m),itisunlikelythatthissmallskewwouldhavehadmuchimpactonourexperiments

variationindata.Alternatively,airresistancecouldhaveplayedapartinthatthelongerthestring was,thelongerthepathithadtotakewhichwouldhavegivenairresistanceafootingfora longeramountoftime.Thiswouldhaveincreasedthetimetakenforeachperiod,whichwould decreaseperiod,andthusincreasethevalueofg.

5a

Experimentalmethod[3]

Totestwhethertheperiodcanbeaffectedbytheangleofreleaseofthependulum,wereleased themassatvaryinganglesfromthepoleholdingthependulumup.Werecordedtenperiodsper iteration.Thiswasmeantasaconfirmationofsystematicerrorsinourfirsttwoexperiments.

5b

Theoreticalmodel[3]

Thependulumequationisusuallygrosslysimplifiedandshouldread: T = 2 causeanunderestimationofgravity.

(1 +
L g

1 2 11 16 16 + 3072 )

.Theoretically,ourpreviousapproximationofthisformulashould

5c

DataPlot[3]

5d

ComparisonofDatav.Model[3]

Asanerrortest,thisturnedoutperfectly.Asthetaincreased,wenoticedanartificiallylowGas computedthroughthesimplerformula,However,themorecomplicatedformulaalsopresented uswitherror.Thismayhavesomethingtodowiththedragfromtheairduetotheincreased speedofthependulumfromhigherreleaseheight.Thiscanbededucedfromthefactthatthe perioddecreasedquickerathigherspeeds.Eitherway,wediddeterminethatusingthesmallest angleyieldedthesmallesterrorinourtests.Theerrorinthesmallestanglemaybeattributedto

measurementerrors.

Conclusion

Inconclusion,ourexperimentconfirmedtheexistenceofagravitationalconstantgwhich seemstobeindependentoftimeormass.Thoughtherewereerrorsintheexperiment,mostif notallcouldbeaccountedforthroughtheexistenceofsystematics.However,therearesome pointswewishwecouldvecoveredthatwereleftamystery.Ifweweretoconductthis experimentagain,wewouldcheckthevariabilityofgravityasitrelatestoheightandlocation, whichwouldthencompletethesetofvariablesthatcoulddirectlyaffectg.