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Lab 13

This document describes a physics experiment to determine the relationship between centripetal force (Fc) and speed for an object moving in circular motion at constant speed. Students measure the mass and revolutions of a rubber stopper attached to hanging weights that provide the centripetal force as it spins. Graphing Fc versus speed and acceleration, they find an exponential relationship for Fc and speed, and a linear relationship for Fc and acceleration. The slope of the latter graph provides the mass of the stopper. Students also observe that Fc equals the hanging weight and that speed increases when radius increases with constant Fc.

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216 views

Lab 13

This document describes a physics experiment to determine the relationship between centripetal force (Fc) and speed for an object moving in circular motion at constant speed. Students measure the mass and revolutions of a rubber stopper attached to hanging weights that provide the centripetal force as it spins. Graphing Fc versus speed and acceleration, they find an exponential relationship for Fc and speed, and a linear relationship for Fc and acceleration. The slope of the latter graph provides the mass of the stopper. Students also observe that Fc equals the hanging weight and that speed increases when radius increases with constant Fc.

Uploaded by

5377773
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction: An object traveling in a circle, even at a constant speed,

is continuously undergoing a change indirection and velocity. To


maintain a circular motion, the applied force must always act in a
direction towards the center of the centripetal motion. The force
constantly pulls a small mass toward the center of the circle is called a
centripetal force (Fc). In this lab, we determine the relationship
between centripetal force and speed acting on an object moving with
uniform centripetal motion.
Procedure:
1. Measure the mass of the rubber stopper and black cord stopper on
the triple beam balance and convert the measurement to kg.
2. Position the black cord stopper below the handle of the hollow
plastic tube such that the radius of revolution is 60cm.
3. Hang 0.020 kg of mass to the bottom of the string. Determine the
total hanging weight by adding the hanging mass and the mass of
black cord stopper and multiplying by g.
4. Twirl the apparatus such that the rubber stopper begins to travel in
circle. As its speed increases, it will lift the hanging mass, the
weight of which supplies the centripetal force.
5. Use a stopwatch to determine the time required for the rubber
stopper to complete 30 revolutions.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for trial 2-7 adding the appropriate hanging mass
as specified in the data table.
7. Repeat steps 2-6 with the radius of revolution of 40cm.
8. Record the data in Table 2.

Questions
1a. Using the data from Table 1, plot a graph of Force (Fc) vs. speed (v).
1b. Using the data from Table 1, plot a graph of Force (Fc) vs.
acceleration (ac).
2a. Using the data from Table 2, plot a graph of Force (Fc) vs. speed (v).
2b. Using the data from Table 2, plot a graph of Force (Fc) vs.
acceleration (ac).

3a. From your graphs of Force (Fc) vs. speed (v) in both 1a and 2a,
what type of relationship does Fc vs. v represent?
An exponential relationship
3b. Form your graphs of Force (Fc) vs. acceleration (ac) in both 1b and
2b, what type of relationship does Fc vs. ac represent?
A linear relationship
4. From your graphs of Force (Fc) vs. acceleration (ac) in both 1b and
2b, determine the slope of these graphs. Do not use points from the
data table. What information does the slope of these graphs give us?

The slopes of these graphs show the mass of the rubber stopper
5. From your data in Table 1 and 2, how did Force (Fc) compare to the
total hanging weight? Should both of these values be the same or
different? Explain your answer.
The Force and the weight are similar to each other. Both of these
values should be the same because the hanging weight will pull
the rubber stopper down when swinging.
6. From your comparison of your data Table 1 and 2, what happens to
the speed of rotations when the centripetal force remains constant but
the radius of rotation increases? Is this what you should expect
theoretically from the equation Fc = mv/r
The speed of rotations increases.
Yes, because increase in radius of rotation should have more
velocity.
Conclusion
In this lab, I learned to draw the graphs which show the relationship
between Force (Fc) vs. speed (v) and Force (Fc) vs. acceleration (ac). I
learnt that an exponential relationship exists between Fc and v. For
Force (Fc) vs. acceleration (ac), there is a linear relationship. I knew
more about centripetal motion from this lab.

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