The apparatus included an aluminium "v-channel" which guided a steel ball through a straight path which was released from an inclined track. The track was set up so that the ball would launch off the edge of a table and onto a piece of carbon paper which would then leave a mark at the point of impact.
We began by releasing the steel ball from the top of the inclined track examining where it would hit the piece of carbon paper. We repeated this process five times to get an idea for the general area of the ball's landing point.
We then measured the height of the table top (launch height: y = 0.930 m.), and the distance along the floor, between the table and the impact point (displacement: x = 0.645 m.).
The next step was to calculate the launch velocity, which turned out to be 1.48 m/s.
We then placed a wood board against the table, beneath the trajectory of the steel ball, securing the bottom end of the board with a weight.
Our next task was to predict where the steel ball would hit the wood plank.
Prior to our prediction we measured the angle (α) of the plank below the horizontal.
Making a prediction for where the steel ball would hit the board required deriving an expression where we could find the value d if values for Vo, and α are known.
(The expression we derived is the double-boxed equation.)
Our prediction for the distance, d, along the board was 83 cm away from the table top.
The distance that the steel ball actually traveled in our experiment was measured to be about 85 cm away from the table top.
A great day for physics.
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