Honors Physical Science

Mr. Mahlum

 

 

The Totally Excellent

Carzilla

Laboratory

 

 

Introduction:

 

The world is full of things in motion- cars, trains, bowling balls, roller coasters, protons, electrons, and even strange and charmed quarks! 

 

Motion is the change in an object’s position.  If an object is moving at a constant velocity, then it is said to have uniform motion.

 

Displacement is change in an object’s position along a straight line path.

 

In this lab you will observe the motion of a small toy (a Carzilla), and attempt to measure it's velocity. 

 

Velocity is sometimes thought of as speed along a straight line path, and is equal to the change in displacement over the change in time.

 

The procedures you will use will be very similar to those of real scientists.  The only difference is that scientists may use more accurate / precise means of measuring (also more expensive) such as video recorders or detectors.

 

 

Materials:

battery operated car                             6m length of adding machine tape

meter stick                                            cellophane tape

stopwatch                                             pen or pencil

 

 

 

You will be working in groups of three

 

Procedure - Part I

 

- Obtain a piece of masking tape 6 meters long and tape it to the floor.  Your Carzilla will drive alongside this tape.

 

-Designate one student as the timer, a second student as the position marker, and a third student as the track assistant.

 

-  The timer will operate the stopwatch.  This person will call out the time every three seconds.

 

- The track assistant will move alongside the Carzilla, and make sure that it drives in a straight line.

 

-  The position marker will move alongside the Carzilla and make a mark on the tape every three seconds, indicating where the Carzilla was at that time.

 

- Turn on the car before placing it next to the masking tape strip.

 

-Start the watch and the Carzilla.  Mark the Carzilla's position on the masking tape every three seconds (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18  etc...)

 

- After you have made marks going to the end of the masking tape, start at the beginning and label each mark (3 sec, 6 sec, 9 sec, 12 sec, etc.).

 

- Now measure the total displacement from the starting point to each mark.  Use a meter stick, and measure in centimeters (cm). 

 

            Make sure to measure the displacement to each point from the starting point.

 

- Enter the displacements you measure in the data table.

 

 

 

Part II

 

- Your vehicle is equipped with a transformer like apparatus!  (Spikes, chain saws, mauls, snakes, etc.).

 

- Transform the vehicle and repeat the procedure. 

 

- Use a different color marker or pen to indicate the Carzilla's position, so the marks    are not confused with the first run.

 

Graph

- Use a pencil to draw the graph so if you make a mistake you may erase

 

- Plot a graph of Displacement Vs. Time for Part 1 of the experiment.

 

- Time is the independent (manipulated) variable and Displacement is the dependent (responding) variable.

 

- Make sure your graph has a title, and takes up at least 3/4 of the page.

 

- Mark Time values (in s) on the x-axis (horizontal)

 

- Mark Displacement values (in cm) on the y-axis (vertical)

 

- Plot points from your data chart. 

 

- Draw the Best Fit Line (use a ruler) that goes as close to as many points as possible.

 

- Repeat this procedure using your data for Part 2 of the experiment. 

 

- You may use the same piece of graph paper for part two.

 

-  When data for part one and part two has been drawn, use colored pencils and highlight both of your best fit lines.  Use a different color for each part.

 

- Create a legend indicating what each color represents on you graph (e.g. Part I - with chains, Part 2 - without chains, etc.)

 

 

Analysis of Graph                  Calculate the slope of your best fit lines.

 

1.  On line 1 draw two new "nice points"

 

2.  Find the (x,y) coordinates of your two new points.  We will call these (x1,y1) and      (x2,y2).

 

3.  Calculate the slope of the line using the equation:

 

 slope = (y2-y1) / (x2-x1)                  include units!

 

4.  Repeat steps 1 - 5 for line 2.

 

5.  In your lab report, describe the shape of the graph for part 1, and part 2.  Include the calculations for the slope in the analysis of graphs.  Write an equation for each of the best fit lines, and identify what the slope tells you about the Carzilla.

 

Include this page with your lab report                     

 

Student Name              _____________________                  Role     _______________

 

Team Members            _____________________                              _______________     

 

                                    _____________________                              _______________

 

Data

                                    Part I                                                               Part II

    State of

Transformation  _____________________                             ______________________

 

 

                                                

 

 

 

 

 

Class Data