Reference no: EM134003896
1. In this experiment, you will use a stopwatch and a pencil to measure your height. To do this, simply hold the pencil by the top of your head and allow it to fall to the floor. The difficult part will be pressing start and stop on the stopwatch at exactly the moment you release the pencil and the moment it strikes the floor since the time interval of the fall is less than 1 second. Your "reaction time" will create some error in your measurements. We will call the time interval during which the pencil falls T1.
2. Since the pencil is undergoing constant acceleration, you can use the constant acceleration model you learned in Lab 8 to determine the distance that the pencil fell. Calculate this distance. The result should be close to your actual height. The equation is:
Where:
is the distance the pencil fallen (m), which is approximately your height.
is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s² on earth).
is the time of the fall (s), recorded with your stopwatch or cellphone.
After recording the fall time, simply substitute your value of into the equation to calculate . The result should give you a good estimate of your height. Remember, is a constant on Earth, so the only variable is the measured fall time.
3. Now you will measure your reaction time. For this you will need a ruler. This also works best if you can find someone to help you with this part. Have your helper hold the ruler just above your hand as shown in Figure 1. Tell your helper to release the ruler as you prepare to catch it. To get the most accurate reaction time measurement, it is important that you don't know exactly the moment when your helper releases the ruler. If you do this on your own, you will know the moment when you release it and you will be prepared to catch it sooner. This will give you a less accurate reaction time measurement.
4. Use the distance that the ruler fell to determine your reaction time. Like you did in step 2, you can use the constant acceleration model to use the distance the ruler fell to determine your reaction time. We will call this time interval TR.
Use the same equation from step 2:
In this case:
is the distance that the ruler fell until you caught it (you can read this directly on the ruler).
is the acceleration due to gravity (), which is constant on Earth.
is the reaction time, , that you are calculating.
Rearranging the equation to solve for :
Substitute your measured distance into this equation to calculate .
Show your calculation here:
5. Now subtract your reaction time TR from the time you measured with the stopwatch T1. Then calculate your height again using this new time. You should now get a height that is closer to your actual height.
What is your (the fall time measured in step 1)? No AI shortcuts — Get genuine assignment help from experienced, real tutors.
What is your (your reaction time calculated in step 4)?
What is your estimated height from step 2 (using )?
What is your recalculated height using the corrected fall time ?
Is your recalculated height closer to your actual height than your first estimate?