Physics215Lab2 - Introduction The acceleration caused by...

Introduction:
The acceleration caused by gravity near the Earth’s surface is constant and has a value of
9.80 m/s2 or 980 cm/s2. In the experiment the value of g was determined by putting the collected
data to the best-fit straight line and the slope was then found. The free-fall equation is:
y= y0 – voyt – ½ gt2
In the equation y is the height, y0 is the initial height above the landing area, v0y is the
initial velocity, g is the magnitude of the gravitational acceleration, and t is the time. In the
experiment a metal ball was released from resting position. The initial velocity is zero due to the
ball starting from rest. With initial height at y0 = h and the target at y = 0, the time to hit the
target was found from:
0 = h – ½ gt2 or h = ½ gt2
Experimental Details:
The apparatus was set up in a way that once the ball was released; it would directly land
above the landing pad. The thumbscrew was loosened and the dowel pin pressed against the

release plate to hold the steel ball in position. The thumbscrew was then tightened to keep the
dowel pin from slipping. The photo-gate timer was connected to the free fall apparatus. The time
of flight for the four different heights, 100 cm, 125 cm, 150 cm, 190 cm, were measured. The