Erickson
Melody Erickson
Lab Preformed 1/19/2023
Tumble Buggy Lab
Purpose:
The purpose of this lab is to develop a model that describes the relationship between position and
time for a battery powered car.
Apparatus:
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•
•
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Three 1-meter sticks
Masking tape
Tumble Buddy
Timer
Procedure:
Independent Variable: Position
Dependent Variable: Time
The purpose of this lab is to develop a model that describes the relationship between
position and time for a battery powered car. In order to accomplish this, we formed into a group
of 4 then laid out three 1-meter stick rulers’ edge to edge on top of a lab station. We then marked
every half meter with masking tape, then labeling them from -0.5 to 2. One student started the
Tumble Buddy, one timed the period between the start to position x, one recorded the data, then
one stopped the Buddy. We started the Buddy about half a meter behind the starting tape to reduce
Erickson
error. As soon as it touched the tape we would start the timer and then end it as it touched the tape
of the distance we were measuring. We originally were going to perform 3 trials but found a great
difference in trial 1 compared to 2 and 3, which resulted in us doing a 4th trial. Trial 1 showed itself
to be an outlier compared to Trial 2-4, being about 2 seconds slower.
There was a consistent time before reaching the first tape which reduced error, and
consistently had the same person releasing it which could have also reduced it. We let the car travel
to position x and then as soon as it reached x, we would stop the timer. We preformed this to points
of 2, 1.5, 1, .5, 0, and then the starting point being -0.5. We repeated this for all 4 trials.
Data:
Tumble Buddy Lab
Trial 1
Period
(s)
11
8.68
7.06
5.05
3.19
1.64
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Distance
(m)
Period
(s)
Distance
(m)
Period
(s)
Distance
(m)
Period
(s)
Distance
(m)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
8.86
7.5
5.79
4.1
2.83
1.55
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
8.35
6.84
5.63
4.38
2.84
1.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
8.53
6.82
5.46
4.26
2.85
1.59
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
Observations:
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Trial 1 may have gone slower by a big difference because the battery had to warm up.
Manual timing and switching people to time could of cause error.
The car not moving in a straight line could of caused error.
Evaluation of Data:
No conversions were necessary with everything being in the correct units. To find the
averages for each distance, we added the 4 periods for 1 distance together then divided the sum
by 4.
The following table reflects the results from these calculations.
Erickson
Average Time for
Period (s)
Position (m)
9.19
7.46
5.99
4.44
2.93
1.57
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
The following graph is a plot of the average time for one period vs. position.
Relationships between variables: The is a linear relationship between the position and period.
Mathematical Model: x=(0.33 m/s)t + (-0.98m)
Erickson
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The slope represents thte spreed of the Tumble Buddy.
The y-interecept was -0.98m, representing the position of our starting point.
General Formula: x=vt+x0
Conclution:
For this lab it was determined that the relattionship between the variables are linear. The
equation for this lab was x+(0.33m/s)t + (-.098m). The slope represents the speed of the car,
while the y intercept represents our starting positionn. Some sources of error are the direction of
the caar, different people timing, manual timing, and the car needing to warm up the batteries.