Exercises
A student carried out an experiment to study the relationship
between acceleration, a, and the weight, W. A smooth plane is
arranged horizontally on a table. A ticker timer is fixed at one
end of the plane and is connected to a power pack. A 1 meter long
ticker tape is attached to a trolley and is pulled through the
ticker timer. The trolley then is put on the plane and is attached
to a 1.0 N of load. The arrangement of the apparatus for the
experiment is shown in Figure1.1.
The ticker timer is switched on and the 1.0N load is released.
The dotted ticker tape is cut about 10 ticks and is analysed to
determine the initial velocity, a, final velocity, v, and the
acceleration, a, of the trolley as shown below.
The actual reading of s1 and s2 is shown in Figure1 .2.The
experiment is repeated by using different load of 1.5 N, 2.0 N, 2.5
N and 3.0 N. The readings of the ticker tape are shown in Figure
1.3, I.4, 1.5 and 1.6.
a) For the experiment, identify:
i. the manipulated variable,
_____________________________________
ii. the responding variable,
_____________________________________
iii. a constant variable,
_____________________________________
[3 marks]
b) Based on Figure 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 an d 1.6, determine s1,
s2, u, v and a when W is equal to 1.0 N, 1.5 N, 2.0N, 2.5 N and 3.0
N.
Tabulate your result for s1, s2, u, v and a for each value of W
in the space below.
[7 marks]c) On a graph paper, plot a graph of a against W.
[5 marks]d) Use your graph to state the relationship between a
and W.___________________________________________ [1 mark]
Figure 1.1
