Newton’s 2nd Law Lab
Force Sensor
Accelerometer
Obtain: CX calculator, lab cradle, force sensor, accelerometer, cart,
track, masking tape
PLEASE REMOVE ALL TAPE WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED WITH LAB
Use a masking tape to attach the force sensor to a cart. Hook a CX
calculator up to a lab cradle. Plug in the force sensor and
accelerometer. The accelerometer will need an adaptor. Open a New
Document that is a Data Quest App (Option 7). Align the accelerometer
with the track and use masking tape to attach. You will need to choose
Menu  Experiment Advanced Set-up  Configure Sensor
Accelerometer  low g, to tell your calculator that the accelerometer
is attached. Set up your experiment to take data of force and
acceleration for 10 seconds. Set your force sensor to 10 N setting.
Press collect. Firmly push and pull your cart by the hook on the force
sensor to accelerate it back and forth for the entire 10 seconds. Change
your Graphs to display only one Graph. Graph Force vs Acceleration on
your Calculator by clicking on Menu Graph Choose x-axis variable
acceleration. Repeat this for the y-axis, graphing “Force.” Your graph
should have an exceptionally large amount of data points that is basically
linear. Use a linear fit of this graph to find the mass of the cart. (Questions
to ask yourself – what equation is this situation modeling? What is my yvariable? What is my x-variable? What is my slope? Is there a y-intercept?)
Connect your calculator to a computer. Open a Word Document and
put the Force vs. Acceleration graph into the document. Be sure to show
your fit line. Answer the following questions in the Word Document.
Describe how you used this graph to determine the mass of the cart.
What is the mass of your cart?
Find the actual mass of the cart using the scale in the back of the room.
Calculate the % error in your first calculation.
NEWTON’S
SECOND LAW
DATA SHEET
TRIAL
ACTUAL MASS
OF THE CART
EXPERIMENTAL
MASS OF THE
CART
% ERROR
1
CALCULATIONS:
QUESTIONS:
1.
What could have happened that caused error between your actual cart mass and
your experimental cart mass?