JANUARY 2020
PHYSICS
LAB REPORT
Centripetal Force
and Speed
Members:
Boya Shaynisa
Series Ronnakit
Kanom Nichapat
Belle Dolaya
1108
INTRODUCTION
Uniform circular motion is when an object moves at a constant speed
around a fixed-radius circle. For example, when you are driving your
car around the curve or when you whirl a ball on a string above your
head. At every point of the motion, the object changes its direction.
However, according to Newton’s first law of motion, an object will not
change its direction nor velocity unless there is a net force acting on it.
Therefore, it can be said that there must be a force exerting on a
circular-moving object. As the object moves along the circle, its
magnitude does not change, but its direction. For any point along the
circular pathway, the change of velocity needs to be going toward the
center of the circle. In other words, some kind of force must be pulling
the object to the center for it to be able to travel in a circular motion.
That force is called centripetal force. Centri- means center and -petal
means seeking. Combining both prefix and suffix together forming the
word of ‘center seeking.’ This centripetal force causes centripetal
acceleration.In this lab, we will be using apparatus and weights and
whirl by setting different radius of the circle and find a correlation
between the speed and centripetal force. We will explore how many
revolutions can be rotated in 30 seconds.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this experiment is to find the relationship between and
object speed (V) in a uniform circular motion (UCM) and its centripetal
force.
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MATERIALS
centripetal force apparatus
washers or weights
meter stick
stopwatch
data anlysis sheet
SET UP
We set up the experiment by hanging a 50g washers on the bottom
part of a centripetal force apparatus, and tying a ball at the other end
of the apparatus. Then, we weighed and recorded the mass of the ball.
Each round of the experiment, we measured the given lengths from
the ball to the tube, and marked the position at the other end of the
tube using a clip. Before the experiment, the timer prepared to start the
stopwatch. One of the group members needed to be ready to count
the number of rotations. All the group members needed to wear safety
goggles.
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PROCEDURE
1. Place a small number of weights or washers on the bottom clip of
the apparatus. This part of the apparatus hangs straight down, and the
weight of the washers supplies the centripetal force.
2. Practice whirling the stopper until the top clip has a short distance
distance below the bottom of the glass tube while the stopper whirls.
3. Use a stopwatch to measure the time taken for a reasonable
number of revolution. Record the data.4. Change the number of
washers on the bottom clip (centripetal force) and repeat steps 3 and
4. Repeat for several different weights. Record the data.
5. Change the position of the top clip to change the radius of the
circle. Repeat the experiment for this radius.
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EXPERIMENTAL AND
DATA AND RESULTS
ANALYSIS AND
RESULTS
From the experiment, the centripetal force can be calculated by using
the equation in the table above. The time taken in each cycle are
different, so we need to take the average value to use with the
calculation. The time can be used to calculate the centripetal force as
shown. The centripetal force has a relationship with the speed.
However, the graph of centripetal force versus speed squared is not a
straight line. It is up and down curve as can be seen in the graph. The
centripetal force is around 0.5 for every length. From the experiment
result, we can know that the speed is direct variation with the
centripetal force. When speed increases, the centripetal force increase.
When speed decreases, the centripetal force decrease.
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CONCLUSION
All in all, our group had achieved the objective of investigating the
relationship between an object’s uniform circular motion speed and its
centripetal force. To conclude the experiment, the graph of centripetal
force versus speed squared is not a straight line. This is because the
centripetal force is directly proportional to the square of the circular
speed for uniform circular motion. Nevertheless, there are some errors
that had occurred during the experiment and it will be discussed in the
following section.
RECOMMENDATION
According to the experiment, there were two errors that our group had
committed. The first error was that the person who was in charge of
counting the number of swings, mis-count the number of swings. So,
this affected the result that we calculated. The second error was that
the measurement of the rope wasn’t acute. Our measurement of the
rope might be a bit off and this can also affect our calculation as well.
These errors were human errors, so the best way to fix them is to be
more precise. The person who counts the number of swigs have to
concentrate more. Also, we need to grab the rope tightly on each end
in order to take the correct measurements.
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REFERENCE
https://youtu.be/vZOk8NnjILg
https://e.edim.co/162651428/OOwM5QewiszJh9ne.pdf?response-
content-
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WORKLOG
Boya - Introduction, conclusion, reference, put into canva
Series - Procedure, recommendation
Kanom - Calculations, experimental data, results analysis
Belle - Objective, material, set up
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