The Force Awakens!

Unit Three - Forces

Major Topics

• Newton's Laws
• Weight vs. Mass vs. Inertia
• N3L forces vs. Balanced Forces
• Solving problems in 1 and 2 dimensions (inclined planes...)
• Tension and Atwood Machines
• Friction
• Circular Motion and Centripetal Force
• Springs in series and parallel (Hook's Law)
• Velocity dependent forces (air resistance...)

Experiments and Labs:

• The Big Push: Human Car Acceleration ( see previous post for data)
• Atwood Machines 
• Springs in series and parallel (Hook's Law)
• Flying Pigs and Centripetal Acceleration

The BIG Push !: Pushing Me Around!

Okay mostly in a straight line.

Exp 4:   Newton's Second Law of Cars

Today we accelerated my car ( and me) by pushing with the different combinations of people.
We measured that the ratio of Actual Push versus Push measure in lab was 0.40.
We accelerated the car with constant (?) acceleration for 10 meters and measure the time of the push.
To do:
Download the data to your computer by clicking here.

Open the Excel file or import into graphical analysis and add the following columns:  
Est. Force in Newtons.      Acceleration     

Use this data to graphically find the mass of my car.   
Show examples of each calculation.
Consider how many significant figures are really justified by our estimates.  
Consider the range of uncertainty  of each measurement. 
Comment on:  the accuracy of our approximations.  Was the acceleration constant.  Research the actual value.