Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Physics Department

8.01X Fall 2001

PROBLEM FOR EXPERIMENT FO: FALLING OBJECT

Handed out: September 19. Due: September 28 at 5 pm in 4-339B.

Experiment FO is difficult to build. There are a large number of steps in the building of the apparatus. You need to check-off your apparatus during the Lab hours.

The Lab is located in 16-168. The Lab hours are Monday Sept 24 3-5 pm, Tuesday Sept 25 7:30-9 pm, Wednesday Sept 26 7:30-9 pm, Thursday Sept 27 3-5 pm.

Problem: Experiment FO

1. Measure and record the value for the LVPS settings during the free falls. Did this value change during your measurements?

2. Set your apparatus so that the wire nut falls about 0.2m. Carefully measure and record the distance h your wire nut falls. Run five trials at this distance and record your voltage measurements for the charging of the capacitor. Calculate your average value for the charging voltage for these five trials. Repeat your five measurements for heights of about 0.15 m, 0.1 m and 0.05 m.

3. Calculate the average time of free fall associated with each distance. Repeat this for three different free fall distances. Include all your data.

4. Plot the square of the time (vertically) against height h. Use a best straight line fit (by eye or software) to find the slope. Use this value for the slope to calculate your experimental value of g.