Measuring 'g' in freefall

Apparatus

METAL BALL

clamp

powerpac
light gate

beaker

Method
1. Set up the apparatus as shown above.
2. Turn on the power pack.
3. Turn on the light gate and check zero error.
4. Attach a metal sphere to the electro magnet
5. Then turn off the light gate and the sphere will fall between
the two light gates into the beaker.
6. Note down the value on the light gate.
7. Repeat the experiment 3 times.
8. Take the average.
9. If the values are similar then the answers are reliable.

Results
Displacement
(m)
0.100
0.200
0.300
0.400
0.500
0.600
0.700
0.800
0.900
1.000

Graph

Time 1 (s)
0.1428
0.2019
0.2473
0.2856
0.3193
0.3497
0.3778
0.4039
0.4284
0.4515

Time 2 (s)
0.1271
0.1959
0.2424
0.2684
0.2618
0.2923
0.3098
0.3554
0.3984
0.4380

Time 3 (s)
0.1399
0.1696
0.2300
0.2599
0.2842
0.3078
0.3249
0.3715
0.4112
0.4302

Average t2
(s)
0.0187
0.0358
0.0575
0.0736
0.0832
0.1002
0.1139
0.1421
0.1703
0.1935

Measuring 'g' in free fall

1.200

1.000

f(x) = 5.27x + 0.03

0.800

Displacement (m)

0.600

0.400

0.200

0.000
0.0000

0.0500

0.1000

0.1500

0.2000

0.2500

Average Time/ t2 (s)

Conclusion
The higher the displacement the more time it takes to reach the
ground as there more distance to travel. Therefore velocity is
constant.When the displacement was 0.1m it took the ball 0.1366
seconds to reach the beaker, on the other hand, when the
displacement was 0.6m it took the ball 0.1366 and when the
displacement was 1m it took the ball 0.4399.

Evaluation

Percentage difference in g (acceleration):

[(9.81-5.74)/9.8] x 100 = 41.53%
5.74m/s is far off the original value which is (9.81m/s), which could be a reason of
human error, by not measuring displacement accurately, or because of zero error.