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Force and Acceleration
  • 00:07Overview
  • 00:55Principles Behind the Force and Acceleration Experiment
  • 02:35Force and Acceleration Experiment
  • 04:51Data Analysis and Results
  • 06:30Applications
  • 07:42Summary

力と加速

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Overview

ソース:ニコラス ・ ティモンズ、 Asantha Cooray、PhD、物理教室 & 天文学、物理的な科学の学校、カリフォルニア大学、アーバイン、カリフォルニア州

この実験の目的は、力によって作用されるグライダーの加速度を測定することによって力とニュートンの第二法則を使って動きの関係のコンポーネントを理解することです。

日常生活の中で運動のほぼすべての側面は、アイザック ・ ニュートンの運動の 3 法則を使用して記述できます。彼らは、モーション内のオブジェクトがモーション (最初法律) に滞在する傾向がある方法を記述する純力 (第二法則) によりときにオブジェクトが加速してオブジェクトによって加えられたすべての力が等しいがあるし、反対側を強制的にオブジェクト (第三法則) に出された背中。ほぼすべての高校や大学の力学は、これらの単純な概念に基づきます。

Principles

Procedure

1. 初期設定。 空気トラックが 1 つの端に接続されているプーリーを持っています。グライダーの一端にヒモで結ぶし、滑車を介してそれを実行、吊り重量に接続されます。 空気トラックに 190 cm マークにグライダーを配置します。100 cm マークにフォトゲート タイマーを配置します。グライダー自体は 200 の質量を持つ g. しがみついてグライダーが移動し、重量の合計の質量…

Results

Equation 14
Equation 15
Equation 16
Equation 15
Equation 10
Equation 17
Equation 18
Equation 19
Equation 20 % Difference
200 10 0.93 0.47 0.43 9
400 10 0.66 0.24 0.22 9
200 20 1.28 0.89 0.82 9
200 50 1.96 1.69 1.92 145

The results of this experiment confirm the predictions made by Equations 2 and 3. With the increased mass of the glider in step 2, the acceleration was smaller because a larger force would be needed to accelerate the glider to the same velocity as in step 1. In step 3, the increased mass of the hanging weight did indeed increase the force on the glider and thus the acceleration. The acceleration increased with the increased mass, as predicted.

Friction was nearly zero thanks to the air cushion between the glider and the track. The pocket of air is not perfect, however, and the air from the track might push the glider in a specific direction. This can be tested by allowing the glider to sit on the air track, with no force applied to it. If the glider moves in either direction, there might be some force on the glider from the track.

Applications and Summary

Newton's second law is fundamentally linked to the motion people experience every day. Without any force, an object will not accelerate and will remain at rest or will continue to move at a constant rate. Therefore, if someone wants to move something, such as when hitting a baseball a certain distance, sufficient force must be applied. The force can be calculated with an equation as simple as Equation 21

Just as it takes a certain force to accelerate an object, it takes the same amount of force to bring the velocity of an object down to zero. By looking at Equation 1, it is clear that an abject with a lot of mass is much harder to stop than an object with a smaller mass. It is easier to stop a bike than a train! The faster something is going, the more acceleration is required to bring it to a stop, so it takes much more force to stop a bullet than a basketball.

Newton's second law becomes a bit more complicated when the components of force change with time. For an object that is experiencing some kind of drag force, such as air resistance, its acceleration can change with time. A rocket is an example of an object that has a mass that changes with time. As the rocket burns fuel, its mass gets smaller, and it actually requires less force to accelerate as time passes.

In this experiment, the components of force were examined. Newton's second law states that force is equal to the mass of an object multiplied by the acceleration. By adjusting the mass of the glider, the acceleration of the glider was reduced. With increased force on the glider, the acceleration was increased, confirming Newton's second law. The results of this experiment should be accurate, as long as there are no other forces acting on the glider. This is why friction was reduced in this experiment using an air track.

Transcript

Newton’s second law describes the relationship between force and acceleration and this relationship is one of the most fundamental concepts that apply to many areas of physics and engineering.

F equals ma is the mathematical expression of Newton’s second law. This illustrates that greater force is required to move an object of a larger mass. It also demonstrates that for a given force acceleration is inversely proportional to mass. That is, with the same applied force smaller masses accelerate more than larger masses

Here we will demonstrate an experiment that validates Newton’s second law by applying forces of different magnitudes to a glider on a nearly frictionless air track

Before going into the details of how to run the experiment, let’s study the concepts and laws that contribute to the data analysis and interpretation.

The set-up consists of an air track, a glider, a photogate timer at a known distance d from the starting point, a pulley, and a string running from the glider over the pulley.

If one attaches a weight to the other end of the string and releases it, the weight will apply a force on the glider causing it to accelerate. This force is given by Newton’s second law. At the same time, the force on the weight will be due to gravitational acceleration minus the tension force in the string connecting the falling weight to the glider. This tension force is the mass of the weight times the acceleration of the glider.

By equating the force on the glider with the force on the weight, one can derive the formula to theoretically calculate glider’s acceleration.

The experimental way to calculate the glider’s acceleration is with the help of the photogate timer. This gives us the time taken by the glider to travel distance d from the starting point. Using this information, one can calculate the glider’s speed and then, with the help this kinematics formula, one can calculate the magnitude of experimental acceleration.

Now that we understand the principles, let’s see how to actually conduct this experiment in a physics lab

As mentioned before, this experiment uses a glider connected by a line passing over a pulley to a weight. The glider slides along an air track, which creates a cushion of air to reduce friction to negligible levels.

As the weight falls, the pulley redirects the tension in the line to pull the glider, which has a 10 cm long flag on top. A photogate at a known distance from the starting point records the amount of time it takes for the flag to pass through it

The glider’s final velocity is the length of the flag divided by the time to pass through the photogate. With the glider’s final velocity and the distance traveled, it is possible to calculate acceleration.

Set up the experiment by placing the photogate timer at the 100 cm mark on the air track and the glider at the 190 cm mark. The glider has a mass of 200 grams. Hold the glider so it does not move and add weights to the end of the string so the total hanging mass is also 10 grams

Once the weights are in place, release the glider, record its velocity for five runs and calculate the average. Use the mass of the glider and the hanging weight to calculate the experimental and theoretical accelerations then record the results.

Now add four more weights to the glider, doubling its mass to 400 grams. Place the glider at the 190 cm mark to repeat the experiment. Release the glider and record its velocity for five runs. Again, calculate and record the average velocity and the experimental and theoretical accelerations.

For the last set of tests, remove the weights from the glider so it has its original mass of 200 grams. Then, add weights to the hanging mass until it has a new mass of 20 grams. Repeat the experiment for another five runs.

Finally, add more weights to the hanging mass until it is 50 grams and repeat the experiment for five more runs.

Recall, the theoretical acceleration of the glider is equal to the acceleration due to gravity g multiplied by the ratio of the mass of the falling weight and the mass of the weight and glider together. As the theoretical values on this table show, acceleration decreases as the mass of the glider increases.

Conversely, acceleration increases as the mass of the falling weight increases, due to the greater force. Note that the accelerations predicted by this equation can have a maximum value of g, which is 9.8 meters per second squared.

Next, let’s see how to calculate the experimental acceleration. For example, the first test used a 200-gram glider and a 10-gram weight. The average speed after traveling 100 centimeters was 0.93 meters per second. Using the kinematics equation discussed before, the experimental acceleration comes out to be 0.43 meters per second squared. This same calculation, applied to the other tests, produces the results shown on this table.

The differences between experimental and theoretical accelerations may have several causes, including limitations in measurement accuracy, the very small but not completely negligible friction on the air track, and the air pocket beneath the glider, which may add to or subtract from the force of tension along the string.

Forces are present in almost all phenomena in the universe. Brought down to Earth, forces affect all aspects of daily life.

Striking the head may cause trauma and impair cognitive functions. A study of sports related concussions used special hockey helmets fitted with three-axis accelerometers to measure acceleration during impact.

Data were sent by telemetry to laptop computers, which recorded the measurements for later analysis. Knowing the accelerations and the mass of the head, it was possible to use Newton’s second law, F=ma, to calculate the impact forces on the brain.

Civil engineers building footbridges are interested in studying the effect of force induced by foot load on these structures. In this study, the researchers placed sensors on a footbridge that measured vibrations induced by the pedestrians. The structural response was then measured in terms of vertical acceleration, which is an important parameter in studying the stability of these structures

You’ve just watched JoVE’s introduction to force and acceleration. You should now understand the principles and protocol behind the lab experiment that validates Newton’s second law of motion. As always, thanks for watching!

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JoVE Science Education Database. JoVE Science Education. Force and Acceleration. JoVE, Cambridge, MA, (2023).