11a, lab 1: Motion, Measurement and Statistics

In the first lab we will investigate the motion of a ball rolling down an inclined plane. We will
use this simple system to investigate the concept of systematic and random measurement
uncertainties to understand how much we can trust a measurement. We will then compare the
experimental outcome with theory.

I. Ball on an inclined plane: Measuring motion

We want to measure the motion of a ball that rolls down on an inclined plane and see whether
this matches what we would expect. We will roll a ball down a tilted aluminum plate where
gravity will accelerate the ball. It then rolls along a level surface (Plexiglas) where it should roll
with approximately constant velocity as long as friction can be neglected.

Set up the experiment. Start by placing the large wooden board onto the table, and use the
adjustment screws and the level to ensure the plane is level. Place the Plexiglas strip onto
the wood and use a steel ball to check again that it is indeed level.

Place the ramp onto the metal inclines and use the magnets to secure it. Make sure the
ramp touches the horizontal surface, but does not flex at the edge of the inclines.

One challenge is to launch the ball without giving it a kick. This is possible with a
magnetic launch mechanism you can put together using an electromagnet, a power source
and a switch. Clamp the electromagnet to the metal surface approximately 20 cm up the
ramp. When the circuit is closed, the current through the electromagnet will generate a
magnetic field that will hold the ball bearing at the electromagnet on the ramp. To release
the ball bearing, simply open the switch to break the current. Find the minimum voltage
needed to hold the ball. Set it slightly higher. Caution: If the voltage is too high, the
electromagnet will heat up and might get destroyed. Check your setting with the TF!

Test your launch mechanism, and make sure the ball rolls straight down the plastic strip

The goal now is to measure the velocity of the ball after it has rolled down the ramp.
Velocity is the length the ball travels per time.

1. Can you think of two different ways to measure the velocity? Hint: You can use a
ruler to measure/define length, and a metronome/clock to measure/define a time
interval. Describe the two alternative methods. (Use headphones for the metronome
on the computer otherwise your fellow students might get annoyed ).
2. How do you decide what length or time interval you use to get the best possible
precision? In other words, why might your precision be negatively affected if your
length/time is either (a) too short or (b) too long?
3. Try both methods, and discuss them with your TF. Decide which one you will use for
the following experiment. Also, look around what others are using and make sure
not everyone is using the same method. This way we can later compare the statistical
error of both methods.
4. Can you think of a way to measure the velocity without a time keeping instrument
(stopwatch/ruler), just with a ruler? There is actually an easy way can you figure
it out? Discuss it with your TF! (If you have time left at the end, try it out for a
bonus!)
5.

We now have a measurement technique in place that we will use to measure velocity.
Before you take a dataset, prepare a worksheet with the logger pro software that allows
you to input your data and calculates the velocity for you. Follow the instructions on page
1 of the logger pro file if you use a method in which the time interval is constant and the
length is measured, and page 2 if your length is constant and you measure the time
interval.

6. Check everything with your TF, and take measurements until you are confident in
your technique. As you record data, create a scatter plot and monitor it. Continue
until you have enough data to characterize the random error. This will probably
require at least 30 points. Discuss this among your group and with your TF. Plot a
histogram of your measured velocities. Does it resemble anything like a Gaussian at
all? Fit it to Gaussian, and print and attach it. Are there Outliers (check whether
there are no typos in the data input)?
7. Follow the instructions in the Logger pro worksheet to generate a scatter plot.
Analyze the statistics on the data. What is the mean of the velocity? What is the
spread of the data, characterized by the standard deviation ? How do you expect
to change as you take more data points? Write your method and standard deviation
on the black board and compare it to the other methods. How does compare to the
fitted width of the Gaussian? Why might it slightly differ?
8. How large is your standard error, i.e. with what precision can you tell the velocity?
Give the standard error in absolute units (m/s), as well as the relative units (% of the
mean).
9. How many measurements would you have to carry out to achieve a 0.1% precision
in your velocity measurement?

(0.1% is the standard error in relative units)

10.

II. What do we expect theoretically?

Using the ideas of kinematics, we can perform calculations and make predictions about the
velocity of an object that that has accelerated down a ramp.

Fparallel = mg sin()
Fperpendicular = mg cos()
where m is the mass, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and (theta) is the angle that the
inclined plane makes with the horizontal surface. In the absence of friction and other forces
(tension, magnetism, etc.), the acceleration a of an object on an incline is:
a = Fparallel/m = g sin()
Once we know this acceleration we can look at how far the ball rolled down the incline to predict
its final velocity:
vfinal2 = 2ad + vinitial2
Here, d is the length parallel to the inclined surface over which the acceleration acts. Assuming
the initial velocity is zero, we find that:
vfinal = sqrt(2ad)
As shown above, g is related to acceleration a by the angle theta. However, d is also related to
the angle .
d = h / sin()
where h is the height. So
a*d = g*h
vfinal = sqrt(2gh)
We do not need to know the angle of the incline to predict the total final velocity. A deeper
reason for this is that potential energy (characterized by the height h) is converted into kinetic
energy (characterized by the final velocity). This general concept will be discussed in one of the
following class lectures.

We can now test the following hypothesis:

We expect that velocity is related to height according to the following relation:
v = sqrt(2gh)
To test this theory, we do not need to collect more data. Rather, we can use the data collected in
the observation experiment. The only additional measurement required here is the height from
which the ball bearing was released. We assume that g is constant and known through other,
independent methods.
11. Measure the vertical distance between the flat rolling surface and the bottom of the
ball at its point of release as accurately as possible. This is the initial height h of the
ball. How large do you estimate the measurement error to be?
12. Calculate the predicted velocity, based on the hypothesis present above. Dont forget
to account for the uncertainty in the measurement that you have included.
Recipe for poor mans error propagation: If you e.g. measure a height of 20mm
plusminus .5mm, calculate the velocity for h=20mm and for h=20.5mm. The difference
of the two velocities you get is your velocity error. (For the experts: Note that the relative
error in the velocity is smaller then the one in height this is because of the square root
in the equation)
13. Compare the velocity calculated from distance measurements to the velocity
calculated from the height measurement. Do the theoretically-predicted velocity and
the measured velocity agree with one another within the error bars?
14. What assumptions are being made in the theory? If these assumptions are false,
how would you expect the predicted value to change?

lets get the ball rolling

In this course, you will learn about the rotational motion of objects. Although rotation has not
yet been addressed in lecture, we can build an intuitive model for the effect of rotation. You can
imagine that, as the ball is moving down the plane, it starts rolling faster and faster because the
friction force is always pushing back on the bottom of the ball (but not the top). However, by
pushing back on the ball, it is also slowing it down a little bit. So we would expect that the
rolling ball will, overall, be moving a bit more slowly at the bottom of the ramp than a ball that
has been sliding without rolling.
You can also understand it in terms of energy: The potential energy is turned into two forms of
kinetic energy linear motion and rotation. So there is less energy left for the linear motion.
Again, this will be addressed later in class.

When rotation is incorporated into the theory, we find that the slope still does not impact the
final velocity. For a solid sphere rolling down an incline we find:
v = sqrt((10/7)gh)
15. Calculate the new final velocity that you would expect for the ball when rolling is
considered. What is the uncertainty?
16. Does the theoretically-predicted velocity and the measured velocity agree with one
another within the error bars? If not, what else might we have to consider? Does
this bring is into the right direction?

III. Precision measurement

In question 8 you saw that at some point statistical averaging is not a very effective way to
improve your measurement precision. If you want to get 100x better precision, you need 10,000x
the number of measurements. In addition, there might be systematic errors that might for
example depend on the person carrying out the measurement (reaction time) etc. Lets explore a
much more precise way of measuring velocity photogates. We use two photogates that are
connected to the computer. They consist of a little light emitting diode and a photo detector. If
the spaced between the light emitter and the detector is blocked, an electronic signal is generated
that is read out by the computer. The computer then measures the time difference between the
arrival of the ball at the two photogates.

Mount two of the gates onto the provided bracket, and measure their distance as precise
as possible. Now, put the gates over the straight path, fairly close to the incline, such that
the ball rolls through both of the gates

17. Carry out 30 measurements and use Logger pro (page 3, see instructions on that
page) to record them. Dont forget to tell the computer the distance between the
photogates you measured. What does the histogram look like (attach it)? Is the
standard deviation smaller now? How large is it?
18. How large is the standard error? How many measurements would it now take to get
0.1% precision?
19. Compare the measurement to theory. What dominates the total errors now, the
random error or the systematic error of the measurement, or the systematic error of
the height determination?
In the equations above you saw that the mass never played a role it divided out. Hence, you
would expect that the velocity does not depend on the mass of the ball. Try it out:
20. Use a glass marble instead of the steel ball. Unfortunately you can now not use the
magnet to launch the ball try whether you can use your fingers instead without
giving the ball a kick. Make a few measurement what do you get?

And finally
21. BONUS: If you have a bit time left, try out the method with no clock, just using a
ruler (see question 4).
Have fun!