Uniform Acceleration

Salvacion, Jozel John P.

Physics Department, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, Manila
jozel_salvacion@dlsu.ph

Abstract- A cart was used to slide down a ramp inclined at

different angles. The angle of displacement is determined by
the height of elevation of one end of the ramp while the other
end was placed on a flat surface. We then determined the
starting point and end point of the track to serve as distance
travelled (d) needed for the experiment. As the cart is released
from the inclined part of the ramp, the same person who
releases the cart also uses a stopwatch to time how long it
takes the cart to get from the starting point to the end point of
the track. This process is recorded and repeated 10 times (to
get a more specific average value) for a specific height of
elevation and we used 7 different heights of elevation to get 7
different average values for acceleration. We got the value for
acceleration by multiplying the distance travelled (d) by 2 and
then divided the product to the square of the time (t) the cart
travelled the whole distance of the track. In short, the
equation we used is 2d/t^2 to get the acceleration.
Keywords- Angle of Displacement, Height of Elevation,
Distance, Time, Acceleration
I. INTRODUCTION
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity of an body
in a given period of time. Acceleration can happen due to the
change of velocity or the change of direction of an body.
Uniform Acceleration is the constant rate of change of
velocity of an object in a given period of time. An example of this
constant rate of change of velocity or uniform acceleration would
be the acceleration due to gravity (g) which here on earth has a
value of 9.8m/s^2. If the object is experiencing constant
acceleration it only means that the object has its velocity
increasing/decreasing at a constant value in a given time.
The changing of the angle of displacement is necessary
in this experiment because we are here to prove that as the angle
of displacement is nearer to the angle of 90 or 270 degrees the
nearer the value of acceleration to the constant acceleration of
gravity (g) which is equal to 9.8m/s^2.
The purpose of the experiment is to determine the value
of constant acceleration of a falling object due to earth's
gravitational pull at a given angle of displacement via a cart

sliding down an inclined track with different angles of

displacement.
II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
We first prepared the materials needed which are the
Dynamics Cart, Dynamics Track with End Stop, Base and
Support Rod with pivot Clamp compatible with the Dynamics
Track, Ruler, and Stopwatch.
After the preparation, we elevated one end the track
with the use of the Pivot Clamp and Base and Support Rod at a
height of 15cm. We used a Ruler to determine the height of one
end of the track. While one end of the track is inclined, the other
end will be placed on a flat surface. Then we placed the stopper
of the track near the end that is placed on the flat surface. After
placing the stopper, we put the cart on the inclined part of the
track then used one end of the cart to serve as basis for the
starting point. The starting point will be one end of the cart and
this is determined by the numerical value placed at the beside the
cart and on side of the track. The sides of a track has numerical
values and has a unit in centimeters. The track is 120cm or 1.2m
long.
With the starting point established, we placed the cart at
the side of the track where there is the stopper. We then used the
same end of the cart used to determine the starting point to
determine the end point. We did the same process in determining
the end point as we used to determine the starting point. Now we
have both starting and end points, to get the distance (d) the cart
will travel we have to subtract the starting point from the end
point.
The next thing we did is the execution of the experiment
which is to place the cart at the starting point, release the cart, and
use the stopwatch to determine and record the time the cart took
to get from the starting point to the end point of the track. We
repeated the same process ten(10) times and got the average time
of these ten(10) trials. After trial 10, we decreased the height of
the incline by 1cm then we used the same process and got the
average. We decreased the height of the incline until we were on
9cm mark. The 9cm mark was the last height where we executed
the experiment.

To get an idea of the experiment set-up, refer to Figure 1 below.

the end of the table and that value will be used in the equation
a=2d/t^2.
The difference of values in the trials is due to either
human error, specifically reflexes on pressing the button on the
stopwatch, or due to the uncontrolled variables (i.e. air, friction)
in the place of execution of the experiment.
Table 3 : Acceleration of the cart and Sin
Height
15cm
14cm
13cm
12cm
11cm
10cm
9cm

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 : Distance Travelled

Starting Point
End Point
Distance Travelled (d)

20cm
100c
m
80cm

The purpose of table 1 is to establish and visually

present the distance travelled and how we came up to such value.
The distance travelled (d) will be used in the equation a=2d/t^2
later on to determine the acceleration of the cart at a specific
height of incline
Table 2 : Height of Incline and Time Travelled

Time
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
Trial 6
Trial 7
Trial 8
Trial 9
Trial 10
Average

15cm
1"08
1"10
1"13
1"05
1"12
1"05
1"03
1"07
1"02
1"11
1"07

14cm
1"24
1"06
1"16
1"17
1"18
1"21
1"14
1"25
1"10
1"20
1"17

Height of Incline
13cm
12cm 11cm
1"29
1"30
1"64
1"33
1"38
1"37
1"20
1"43
1"45
1"38
1"44
1"45
1"12
1"29
1"70
1"20
1"30
1"44
1"17
1"40
1"39
1"20
1"25
1"51
1"20
1"47
1"48
1"28
1"40
1"50
1"24
1"35
1"50

10cm
1"89
1"80
1"50
1"54
1"72
1"51
1"64
1"80
1"43
1"73
1"66

9cm
1"92
1"93
1"80
1"79
1"87
1"68
1"95
1"81
2"21
1"76
1"86

Table 2 shows the time the cart travelled from the

starting point to the end point. The average time is indicated at

Acceleration
1.387 m/s^2
1.1668 m/s^2
1.0456 m/s^2
0.883 m/s^2
0.718 m/s^2
0.583 m/s^2
0.466 m/s^2

Sin
0.125
0.117
0.108
0.1
0.092
0.083
0.075

Table 3 shows the value for acceleration of the cart

using the formula a=2d/t^2 where d is the value of distance
travelled in table 1 and t is the average time in table 2.
We got the value for Sin by using the height of the
incline and the length of the track (120cm) to be represented as
the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by the track and the flat
surface on which the other end of the track is placed. The
equation we used to determine the Sin is Height over
Hypotenuse(120).
IV. CONCLUSION
After the experiment, it was proven that as the height of
the incline increases, the acceleration of the cart also increases
along with the angle of the track. The higher the angle of the
track, the higher the value for the acceleration of the cart.
REFERENCES
[1] De La Salle University P6LabManual1_AY11-12 pages 67-70
[2] Dynamics Track System information in Paasco [Online] available at :
http://www.pasco.com/physuniv/kinematics/dynamics-tracksystems/index.cfm#
[3] Theta symbol from Wikipedia [Online] available at :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C6%9F