Name:______________________ Per:_______
Inclined to Roll Lab
Purpose:
In this lab, you will practice skills with measuring, time keeping and distance to find
the speed of a moving object.
Problem: How does the steepness of a ramp affect the speed an object moves across
the floor?
Materials:
• Marble or sphere
• Meter stick
• Masking tape
• Flat board or Rail, about 1 m long
• Books
• Two stopwatches (or computers with stopwatch function)
Procedures:
1. Prop up one end of the ramp board to make a slight incline. If you have one,
use a protractor to measure the angle that the board/rail makes with the
ground. Record the angle or number of books in your data table.
2. Working in groups of 4-5, have one person hold the marble/sphere so that it
is at the top of the ramp. As the holder releases the marble, BOTH timers will
start their stopwatch, one group member will catch the marble and one will
record the data.
3. BOTH timers will press start when the marble is released from the top of the
ramp. One timer will press “STOP” when the marble reaches the end of the
ramp. The seond timer continues until the sphere crosses the finish line.
Press “STOP” on the seond timer when the marble reaches the finish line.
4. The first time shown on the stopwatch is recorded as “Time 1”. The second
time is recorded as “Time 2”.
5. Repeat steps 3-5 two more times. If your results for the three times are not
within 0.2 seconds of one another, carry out more trials.
6. Repeat steps 2-6 three more times making the ramp gradually steeper each
time.
7. For each angle of the incline, complete the following calculations and record
them in your data table.
a. Find the average time the marble takes to get to the bottom of the
ramp (Time 1)
b. Find the average time the marble takes to get to the finish line (Time
2)
c. Subtract the average of Time 1 from the average of Time 2.
Name:______________________ Per:_______
Number
of Books
Trial
Number
1
1
2
3
1
2
2
3
1
3
2
3
1
4
2
3
Time to
Bottom
of Ramp
(Time 1)
(s)
Time to
Finish
Line
(Time 2)
(s)
Average
Time 1
(s)
Average
Time 2
(s)
Average
Time 2 –
Averagre
Time 1
(s)
Aveage
Speed
(m/s)
Name:______________________ Per:_______
Graphing: On a separate piece of graph paper, plot the average speed of the
sphere on the y-axis against the angle of the ramp (number of books) on the x-axis.
Attach this paper to this lab.
Speed of Sphere (m/s)
Speed of Sphere vs. Angle of Ramp
Angle of Ramp (# of Books)
Name:______________________ Per:_______
Analyze and Conclude:
1. How can you find the average speed of the sphere across the floor for each angle
of incline? Determine the average speed for each angle and record it in your data
table.
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2. Which is your independent variable and which is the dependent variable. Explain.
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3. What does your graph show about the relationship between the sphere’s speed
and the angle of the ramp?
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4. If your measurements for distance, time or angle were inaccurate, how would
your results be affected?
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5. Do you think that your method of timing was accurate? Did the timers start and
stop their clocks at the appropriate points? How could the accuracy of timing be
imporived?
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