Freefall and Projectile Motion - 795 Words

Freefall and Projectile Motion Introduction and Objectives This lab experiment was done to determine the characteristics of free fall and projectile motion in Physics. The motion in which a body is thrown or projected is called Projectile motion while free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it, at least initially. In this experiment, a photogate, a chopper, and a Universal Lab Interface were used to determine the free fall motion of the chopper as it was released. A ball, carbon paper, and an L-shape projector were also used to determine the range of projectile motion of a ball being released from a horizontal yet slightly vertical slope. At the end of the experiment, one will know how velocity†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Photogate has a beam of infrared light that travels from one side to the other. It can detect whenever this beam is blocked.† A Picket Fence or a chopper, a piece of clear plastic with equally spread out black sections on it, was dropped. â€Å"As the Picket Fence passes through the Photogate, the computer will measure the time from the leading edge of one bar blocking the beam until the leading edge of the next bar blocks the beam.† This timing continues as all eight bars pass through the Photogate. From these measured times, the program will calcul ate the velocities and accelerations for this motion and graphs will be plotted. http://www.waukeshasouth.com/physics1/photo.html