DISTANCE, SPEED AND ACCELERATION USING A TICKER TIMER

Aim These simple experiments will help you to learn how to use the ticker timer to measure distance, speed and acceleration.
power input 4a.c.5

ticker tape magnet

car#on paper disc

Experiment 1
This experiment is to measure the distance traveled and the speed of a piece of ticker tape using a ticker timer. YOU WILL NEED: A ticker timer, a 12V AC power supply, ticker tape, two mm connecting leads and a pair of scissors. !f your ticker tape is not gummed you will also need some glue.

coil

vi#rating #ar

WHAT TO DO: Connect the timer to the power supply. "ut a 1 m length of tape under the car#on disc and switch on. "ull the tape through steadily. Cut the tape into $!V% &"AC% lengths and stick them into your #ooks side #y side as shown in the diagram. 'easure the length of one of your $!V% &"AC% lengths and work out its speed. O !er"#ti$n!: (ength of tape Time to go through timer &peed of tape ) ) ) cm *.1 s cm+s

,epeat the experiment #ut this time pull the tape through the timer more -uickly. .nce again work out the speed of the tape. The distance that the tape has traveled in the time that you pulled it through the ticker timer is simply the distance #etween the first and last dots on the tape. A sample set of ticker tape length is shown in the diagram. /ow do these pieces of tape compare with your ticker tape0

,emem#er that you must measure $!V% &"AC%& and 1.T 2 3.T&.

Experiment %
YOU WILL NEED !n addition to the apparatus used in experiment 1 you will also need a runway, trolley and #locks. WHAT TO DO: &et up the apparatus as shown in the diagram with the tape fixed to the trolley. &witch on the ticker timer and let the trolley run down the slope.

timer

trolley

runway

Cut your tape into 2 &"AC% lengths and stick it in your #ooks 6ust like you did for experiment one. This time make sure that you start with the shortest first and #e careful to keep the pieces in order. &tick in eleven of these 2 &"AC% pieces and work out the speed of the first and eleventh piece. (ength of piece 1 (ength of piece 11 &peed of piece 1 &peed of piece 11 Time #etween piece 1 and piece 11 Acceleration of the trolley down the ramp 7our results for experiment 2 should look something like hose shown in this diagram. 7ou can work out the acceleration from8 Acceleration ) 4&peed of piece 11 9 speed of piece 15+1 !f you can:t get 11 pieces the try and get six. This will mean a time difference of *.;<*.1 ) *.2s. !n this case the acceleration of your trolley will #e8 Acceleration ) 4&peed of piece 11 9 speed of piece 15+*.2 =rite up your experiments with diagrams. ) ) ) ) ) 1s ) cm cm cm+s cm+s cm+s2

&UESTIONS 1. =hat were the main sources of error in your experiments and how could you reduce them0 2. The sample pieces of ticker tape shown in the diagram with experiment one are not all -uite the same length. =hat does this tell you a#out the speed with which the ticker tape was pulled through the time0 >. /ow could you tell that the trolley in experiment two was accelerating steadily down the ramp0 . !f you had used five dot lengths and not five space lengths what time interval would that #e0 2. The sections of ticker tape shown have #een copied full si?e,. !f the timer gave 2* space per sec ond what is the8 4a5 speed of the tape in diagram 1 and 4#5 the acceleration of the tape in diagram 20

3iagram 1 3iagram 2

;. The dots on the tape in diagram 1 are not all the same distance apart. =hat does that tell you a#out that piece of tape0