Teacher Resources
QUICK LAB
Acceleration and Slope
Small groups
20 minutes
MATERIALS
For each group
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
LAB RATINGS
Teacher Prep —
Student Setup —
Cleanup —
SAFETY INFORMATION
Remind students to review all safety cautions and icons before beginning
this lab. Caution students to pick up any toy cars that roll onto the floor to
avoid someone slipping on them.
books (2)
calculator
marble
metersticks (2)
ruler, metric
stopwatch
tape, masking
For each student
• safety goggles
My Notes
TEACHER NOTES
________________
In this activity, students will construct a simple ramp and collect data from
________________
a toy car rolling down the ramp. They will be able to calculate the toy car’s
average acceleration by assuming an initial velocity of the toy car of zero.
________________
They will calculate the final velocity of the toy car at the end of the ramp by
________________
using a stopwatch to determine the time it takes the toy car to roll a specified
distance along the table after it leaves the ramp. Because they will time the
________________
toy car’s descent down the ramp, students will be able to calculate average
acceleration by finding the difference between initial and final velocity of
the toy car on the ramp and dividing by the time of the toy car’s descent on the ramp.
Students will then vary the slope of their ramp and determine how slope affects average
acceleration of the toy car.
Students will find that the toy car accelerates to a larger extent as the slope of the ramp
is increased.
Tip Ask students to think practically about what acceleration means in their everyday lives
and what they have experienced when in an analogous situation to the toy car. For example,
have them compare their experiences on different playground slides of varying height. It
might be helpful for students to run through this thought experiment before beginning the
activity.
Student Tip What provides energy to make the toy car move? How does that change with
the slope of the ramp you construct?
Skills Focus Making Predictions, Practicing Lab Techniques
MODIFICATION FOR
Begin by having the students define the terms acceleration and velocity, then have them
write down and test their predictions using the toy car and ramp setup described above.
ScienceFusion
Module I Lab Manual
19
Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Alterations to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor .
Unit 1, Lesson 2
Acceleration
Teacher Resources
Quick Lab continued
Answer Key
9. Sample answer: Acceleration of the toy car was greater on the steeper ramp. The final
velocity at the end of the ramp is what we measured. Therefore, we could see that
acceleration was greater on the steeper ramp because this caused the toy car to have a
higher velocity once it reached the table.
10. Sample answer: The toy car could have been pushed or bumped. We could have
stopped or started the stopwatch too soon or too late.
11. Sample answer: We ran five trials so that we could see how much variation in time
there was when we repeated the same procedure over and over again. This lets us know
if any of our trials was way off because we should see similar times for all trials.
It helped us know that we were getting reasonable results.
ScienceFusion
Module I Lab Manual
20
Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Alterations to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor .
Unit 1, Lesson 2
Acceleration
Name _________________________________ Class __________________ Date _________________________
QUICK LAB
Acceleration and Slope
In this lab, you will allow a toy car to roll down a ramp and then
determine its average acceleration using its initial velocity, final
velocity, and the time taken for the toy car to roll down the ramp.
You will then expand on this investigation by adjusting the slope of
the ramp and determining how the average acceleration of the toy car
changes as a result of the slope change.
PROCEDURE
Tape two metersticks together side by side for the toy car to roll
down.
Use a book to raise one end of the metersticks off the table
slightly.
Mark the location where the bottom end of the metersticks
touch the table with a piece of masking tape; use the ruler to
measure 30 centimeters (cm) from that point and place another
piece of tape.
OBJECTIVES
• Investigate
the effect of ramp
slope on an
object’s average
acceleration.
• Evaluate
experimental
methods.
MATERIALS
For each group
• books (2)
• calculator
• marble
• metersticks (2)
• ruler, metric
• stopwatch
• tape, masking
For each student
• safety goggles
How do you predict the toy car will behave on the ramp? How do you
predict it will behave once it leaves the ramp and begins rolling on the table?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
ScienceFusion
Module I Lab Manual
21
Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Alterations to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor .
Unit 1, Lesson 2
Acceleration
Name _________________________________ Class __________________ Date _________________________
Quick Lab continued
Set the toy car at the top of the ramp and release it. Begin timing the toy car when
you release it. Stop the timer when the toy car reaches the end of the ramp. Record
the time in the table below. Repeat this step four times for a total of five trials.
Record your results in the table and then calculate an average for the five trials.
Trial number
Time on ramp
Time from ramp to tape
1
2
3
4
5
Totals
Average:
Average:
Set the toy car at the top of the ramp and release it like before. This time, begin
timing when the toy car reaches the end of the ramp. Stop timing when the toy car
reaches the second piece of tape on the table. Record the time in the second
column of the table above. Repeat this step four times for a total of five trials.
Record your results in the table and then calculate an average for the five trials.
The initial velocity of the toy car on the ramp was zero. The final velocity of the
toy car on the ramp was its velocity when it reached the end of the ramp. At the
time that it reached the end of the ramp, the toy car moved along the table at a
constant velocity, which is the same as its final velocity on the ramp. To find
this velocity, divide the 30 cm distance the toy car moved from the end of the
ramp to the tape by the average time it took to roll this distance (the average
time in the second column of the data table above.) Show your work in the
space below.
ScienceFusion
Module I Lab Manual
22
Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Alterations to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor .
Unit 1, Lesson 2
Acceleration
Name _________________________________ Class __________________ Date _________________________
Quick Lab continued
Now, calculate the average acceleration of the toy car on the ramp using the
equation, average acceleration = (Vfinal - Vinitial) / time. The time in the
denominator is the average time of descent of the toy car on the ramp. Show
your work in the space below.
Raise the height of the ramp and repeat Steps 5–8. Record your results for
this new ramp in the data table below. Calculate the average acceleration
of the toy car on this ramp.
Trial number
Time on ramp
Time from ramp to tape
1
2
3
4
5
Totals
Average:
Average:
How did the average acceleration of the toy car differ on the two ramps? Explain.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
What errors may have affected your results?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Why did you run multiple trials for each ramp?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
ScienceFusion
Module I Lab Manual
23
Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Alterations to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor .
Unit 1, Lesson 2
Acceleration