# free fall lab.docx - 1.0 Objective This experiment is aimed...

• Lab Report
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1.0 Objective This experiment is aimed to measure the rate at which the velocity changes with time. From that, then determine acceleration due to gravity. 2.0 Introduction when a body is acted upon by a net force, then the body accelerates as a result of that force. If the force is constant the acceleration will also be constant. The earth has a constant force pulling everything towards its center. If a body is allowed to free fall, then this force will act upon that body. Since the force is constant then acceleration will also be constant. For this experiment, air resistance is ignored and drag considered to be zero. Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity with time a = v v 0 t equation1 From equation one, initial velocity is constant therefore velocity-time graph will be a straight line. The slope of this graph is the value of acceleration. The average velocity of a body is defined as total displacement divided by the time taken. v = s t equation 2 For uniformly accelerated motion the average velocity is the average of the initial velocity and the final velocity over the time interval. v = v 0 + v 2 equation 3 The average velocity is also equal to the magnitude of the instantaneous/actual velocity midway during the time interval on a displacement time graph. Combine equation 1,2