Measure the acceleration of a cart on a track

Your goal in this experiment is to determine the acceleration of a cart as it rolls down a tilted track. You have the following equipment:

• a track with attached tape measure
• one wooden block
• a cart
• a stopwatch

Measure the time it takes for the cart to roll from a standing start the following distances: 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, 50 cm . Make three trials at each distance.

Write down your results in a table which looks something like this:

                                                                        2    2
Distance (cm)        Time to roll (s)       avg time (s)      (avg time)  (s)
                         
                     1       2       3             +/-                +/-
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  20

  30 

  40 

  50 

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Use your measurements to make a graph which corresponds to the following equation:

What is the acceleration of the cart? Be sure to include both a value and an uncertainty.

• How can you determine the uncertainty in a slope?

If you have time: Is there any way to compute this acceleration, theoretically? If so, how does the theoretical acceleration compare to your measured value?

Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.