Name ______________________________
Ms. Sabbatino
Date ___________
Period _________
Lab #3: Buggy Lab
FULL WRITE-UP!
Goals
- To experimentally determine the speed of a battery powered buggy
- To graphically derive an equation that relates the distance an object travels to the
time it is allowed to travel for.
Background
Address the following points in your background section IN A PARAGRAPH!
- The difference between a vector and scalar quantity
- The definitions of distance vs. displacement
- The definitions of speed vs. velocity
- The variable used for distance and its units
- The variable used for time and its units
- The variable used for speed and its units
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Predictions
-
Allow the buggy to move across the floor once and guess the speed in m/s
answer
-
What mathematical relationship (direct, exponential, inverse) do you expect to see
between the time the buggy is allowed to move and the distance it covers
answer
Materials and Lab setup
Remember to draw your setup and label everything!
Procedure
- before you write this section, answer the following questions IN YOUR MIND
o Which is the independent variable?
o Which is the dependent variable?
o What units/intervals are you going to use to measure your data?
o Does the buggy reach a constant speed right as you turn it on?
o How can you make sure that your buggy is moving at a constant speed the
entire time you are taking data?
o How can you make sure that you are consistently marking the correct
distance traveled?
Step 1:________________________________________________________________
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Data
- create a table, remember units!
Time (s)
Distance 1 (m)
5
3.08
10
15
20
25
6.18
9.45
12.58
15.2
Distance 2 (m)
3.08
6.18
9.46
13.04
15.59
Distance 3 (m)
3.58
6.98
10.24
15.6
17
Analysis
- Graph the three trials of your buggy.
- Label all axes and give a title
- Since the three runs are all for the same buggy under the same conditions, use 1
best fit line
- Find the slope of the best fit line (include units!)
- Derive an equation that relates the speed of the buggy, the distance it travels and
the time it is allowed to travel.
Conclusion
- Restate a goal, tell the result you got for that goal and comment on the correctness
of your prediction relating to that goal.
- Repeat for your other goal.
- What were some sources of error? How could you avoid them next time?
- What variation of this lab would you offer your reader to try?
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