Homework for Thursday's class

I will not collect this, but WILL check to see that you have completed (or at least attempted) it at the beginning of class.

During class, you took some data - distance and time - for a falling ball.  Your purpose is to calculate the acceleration of the ball.

We rearranged an equation in class to solve for acceleration.  This equation now looks like this:

a = 2d/t^2

(Note that t^2 means t-squared.)

Using the data your group took in class, calculate the acceleration for your ball.  You can first determine the average time to fall, as long as you kept the distance the same for each trial.

Questions to answer after you calculate a:

1.  Should everyone in class have the same acceleration (approximately)?

2.  What causes the ball to accelerate?

3.  What are sources of error (or threats to validity) in this little experiment?

4.  What might be a better way (or ways) to perform this experiment?


Thanks!

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