Pressure and Buoyant Force lab conclusion

            This was a simple lab that helped me understand Archimedes’ principle when I had to calculate the buoyant force on a can of sand when we put it in a container of water. Using the formula P=F/A (or, in other terms, P=mg/A). We also used P=pwgh. We used the information that we put in our graph (Graph #1) to get the pressure. The main element we had to deal with in this lab was how much room there was for error. We could measure the depth incorrectly, whether it was just off, using the wrong units, or measuring the wrong part of the can (it happens). The dirt ratio was not perfect for the small can to the large can. It said to put dirt in it until the can was 3/4^th under water, but instead we had our small can around 7/8^th under water and our large can was about 3/4^th under water. This difference could be the reason for our 91% difference in the cans percentage difference (Graph #1, last column). One other mistake my group and I made was that we didn’t convert the weight down to grams from kilograms, which made everything messy. Nevertheless, this lab was very helpful in understanding buoyant force and the forces that push down the can.

Torque Lab Conclusion

Torques and its Magical Properties

            This lab was a fairly simple lab with an awesome lesson. We were able to see and measure the forces that produce torque, calculate the torque on a rotating body, and with that we were able to see what relationship torque holds with the lever arm. We had to start off with the system in equilibrium which meant that the net forces had to add up to zero as well as the torque. These can be formalized by saying   and  . This was a simple lab with only a few easy formulas. To find the torque after the weight had been added onto the string, we multiplied the force we had found on the scale by how far away the weight was from the scale. We did this on both sides to calculate the clockwise and counterclockwise torques. Our official formula is T=Fxl . We knew that our meter stick had to stay horizontal because if it had tilted at an angle we would’ve had to use the sin or cos of the angle it tilted at to find the force and that would’ve been too much work for something as easily fixable as leveling out our stick. Our experiment showed all of the elements we were testing to be accurate because the numbers we were getting correlated with the theories that were discussed in the reading. So yay for us! The only thing we would have changed if we could was that we would have a more sensitive and precise scale because we might have some skewed data because of our equipment. But besides that, our experiment was helpful in learning hands-on about torque.

Pendulum Periods Lab Conclusion

            Luckily, thanks to this lab, my partners and I were able to see how the length and mass of the parts of a pendulum would make it swing differently. By using different length of string and putting more weight on the bob, we were able to conclude that the period of the swing depended greatly on the length of the string, but not necessarily on the mass of the bob. This fact can be seen on my Data Table – Part II and Part III. It can also be seen in Graph 2, which depicts the length change, and Graph 3, which depicts the mass change. If we look back at the Data Table – Part II, you can see a noticeable decrease in period as the length is also decreased. In Data Table – Part III, you can see that the average period is somewhat around the same number for the three different masses. In the Analysis questions, it explained to us that using Newton’s laws, the period is related to the length and free-fall acceleration by the formula:. Besides having that equation to reference to, we didn’t have any formulas to work out ourselves. But this formula and Newton’s law is what brings Physics into the lab. All in all this lab went pretty alright. The one thing I would’ve done differently if I could was that I would have made Graph 3 more proportional looking to what it really is. Because there really isn’t a huge amount of change in the values, but the way the Zoom Fit worked, the values looked completely polar from each other. But hey, that just proves human error, right?

Momentum, Energy, and Collisions Lab Conclusion

            Throughout this lab we were able to see the conservation of momentum and kinetic energy during collisions. Performing different kinds of collisions allowed us to classify them as elastic, inelastic, or completely inelastic. We were able to do these things easily and successfully! We discovered that when we used magnetic bumpers momentum and kinetic energy was conserved in the collision. But when we changed the bumpers to Velcro, only momentum was conserved, not kinetic energy. We could identify this because we would find the momentum or the kinetic energy right before the two carts hit each other and then find it again right after. This can be seen in the highlighted squares in my Data Table. This data was taken from Graphs 1, 2, and 3. By dividing the two numbers we got, we could see if the ratio was near one. If it was near one, that would mean that they are really close to the same number and so it did conserve the momentum or kinetic energy. Physics is evident throughout this lab because the conservation of momentum and kinetic energy uses Physics formulas, such as KE=.5mv^2 and p=mv. All in all this was a great, fun, and easy lab that taught us so much! The only big errors I made were in the beginning; I was multiplying the velocity by the mass in grams to give me the momentum when I needed the kilograms. And one technical error of us setting up the lab was that we weren't sure if our track was actually level in the center. It seemed like it was dropping down a little bit. We tried to fix it the best we could by putting a chair underneath for support.

Static and Kinetic Friction Lab Conclusion

            In our static and kinetic friction lab, we were able to see how the weight of an object affects its friction, measure its coefficients, and decipher is the weight affects the coefficient. We were able to do all of these things and come up with a solid conclusion in the end. We were able to see through the use of F=umg, that the weight of the object didn’t matter in finding its coefficient. Using the same equation for our different sets of data, both average coefficients of kinetic friction is within a couple hundredths of each other. The coefficient is not based upon weight because when we are finding the coefficient, we use the formulas that a=mg and F=ma. We end up dividing the two formulas so in the end we divide out the mass of the object making it useless. Through this lab, we were able to track the forces needed in static friction and kinetic friction. In graph #1, we see that there is a greater force needed at the start because of the static friction (labeled in green). My partners and I were able to do this lab fairly easily, though at the beginning there was communication error and not too long after that I mistook 500 g for 500 kg, throwing off my data. If I let it throw off my data by that much, I would have had to divide by a much bigger normal force. Through everything, I found this lab to be very fun and very informative and teaching for the concepts of static and kinetic friction through the use of wooden blocks.

Free Fall Lab Conclusion

My partner and I were able to analyze a graph of a bungee jumper during free fall and the acceleration during the time the cord was stretching. We were able to compare our testing jump simulation to that of a real life jump. We were able to do these things and learn a lot. We were able to see that free fall does only have the acceleration a gravity (-9.8 m/s^2). We saw how the highest peak on the graph matched up to when our man was the lowest and had the bungee stretched out. We were able to see the acceleration during the bounces and at different times (in seconds). We were able to use the graphs to determine what was asked in the objectives, such as, we labeled on Graph #2 where the acceleration was the maximum and the minimum.

            We saw Physics’ concepts in our lab when we realized that forces were at play. We saw that the force of gravity and the force of the bungee cord were the reasons for the acceleration differences on the graph. We saw that the lowest acceleration that our man would be going going down was the acceleration of gravity, which is -9.8m/s^2. The Table even shows the fluctuations that appeared during the jump. We were able to use our equation of to find how long the bungee cord was because we were able to use our acceleration during the period of free fall and the time that the man was in free fall.

            Though my partners and I weren’t perfect (we had to drop our bungee man over again multiple times because she would smash into the table, so it’s a good thing we didn’t use those test runs or else the information would have been skewed; we also used the wrong equation at first to find the length of the cord which made the cord come out to look like 5 meters so it’s a good thing we didn’t use that one) we were able to learn about the effects of the force of the bungee cord on the acceleration after a free fall.