24-Sep.-14: Centripetal Acceleration as a function of Angular Speed

PURPOSE: To learn more about the modeling with Circular Motion by measuring the acceleration of a turn-table (with a radius of about 19 cm.) at various rotational velocities.

Our apparatus was a small, sturdy table which was free to rotate.
At one edge of the turn-table, we attached an accelerometer which collect the rotational velocity of the table.


 

As a class, we all collected the average period for different accelerations.
This was done with many stopwatches as we carefully timed how long it would take for the table to complete 3 rotations. We surveyed everyone's results after each measurement and averaged the times.

The times and accelerations:
1) t = 1.4 sec. and a = 32.8 m/s^2
2) t = 1.95 sec. and a = 16.4 m/s^2
3) t = 2.3 sec. and a = 12.9 m/s^2
4) t = 2.5 sec. and a = 12.1 m/s^2
5) t = 3.4 sec. and a = 6.0 m/s^2

After calculating values for each period and each rotational velocity, we then plotted our data on a centripetal acceleration-vs-rotational force graph, where the slope represents the radius of the circular motion. (a = r*w^2)

A great day for Physics.

(taken: 9/24/14 6:58am)