Physics Laboratory Report
Lab number and Title: Lab 113:
Atwood Machine
Name: Milan Nikolin Group ID: 2
Date of Experiment: 10/16/2023 Date of Report Submission: 10/23/2023
Course & Section Number: PHYS Instructor’s Name: Professor Chaubey
102A009
Partners’ Names: Salma, Anthony,
Keith
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Our objectives were to familiarize ourselves with Newton’s Second Law
while analyzing the motion of to bodies of unequal mass in an Atwood
machine as well as to get better at performing one-dimensional motion
equations.
1.2 The Atwood machine is used to illustrate Newton’s Laws and measure
acceleration due to gravity. It consists of two objects with different
masses connected by an inelastic, massless string running over a
frictionless and massless pulley. The unequal gravitational forces on the
two objects causes the heavier object to be accelerated downwards while
the lighter object is accelerated upwards.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Experimental Variables:
Mass - m (g)
Time - t (seconds)
3 RESULTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA and Calculations
Table I
Trial 1 2 3
Time t (s) 1.92 1.75 1.92
, Average Time t 1.86s
Measured a 0.58 m/s
Theoretical a 0.55 m/s
Percent Difference 5.17%
Table II
m1 = 270g m2 = 300g s= 101cm
Predicted Time (s) Measured Time (s) Percent Difference (%)
1.97 1.98 0.5
Percent Difference = Predicted Time (s) / Measured Time (s)
Percent Difference = 1.98s / 1.97s
Table III
m1 = 270g
mA = 220g, x = 40cm, s = 61cm tx = 0.45s
Given tx Measured tx Percent Predicted Measured ts Percent
Difference ts Difference
(%) (%)
0.45 0.455 .03 1.52 1.535 .66
1.01m = 1/2a * 1.862
a = 0.58 m/s2
4 ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION
The analysis was performed taking into account Newton’s Second Law which
states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables
- the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. The
acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon
the object, and inversely upon the mass of the object. As the force
acting upon an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is
increased. As the mass of an object is increased, the acceleration of the
object is decreased. We used an Atwood machine with two different masses
to show the the difference in acceleration between the two masses. Our
Lab number and Title: Lab 113:
Atwood Machine
Name: Milan Nikolin Group ID: 2
Date of Experiment: 10/16/2023 Date of Report Submission: 10/23/2023
Course & Section Number: PHYS Instructor’s Name: Professor Chaubey
102A009
Partners’ Names: Salma, Anthony,
Keith
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Our objectives were to familiarize ourselves with Newton’s Second Law
while analyzing the motion of to bodies of unequal mass in an Atwood
machine as well as to get better at performing one-dimensional motion
equations.
1.2 The Atwood machine is used to illustrate Newton’s Laws and measure
acceleration due to gravity. It consists of two objects with different
masses connected by an inelastic, massless string running over a
frictionless and massless pulley. The unequal gravitational forces on the
two objects causes the heavier object to be accelerated downwards while
the lighter object is accelerated upwards.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Experimental Variables:
Mass - m (g)
Time - t (seconds)
3 RESULTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA and Calculations
Table I
Trial 1 2 3
Time t (s) 1.92 1.75 1.92
, Average Time t 1.86s
Measured a 0.58 m/s
Theoretical a 0.55 m/s
Percent Difference 5.17%
Table II
m1 = 270g m2 = 300g s= 101cm
Predicted Time (s) Measured Time (s) Percent Difference (%)
1.97 1.98 0.5
Percent Difference = Predicted Time (s) / Measured Time (s)
Percent Difference = 1.98s / 1.97s
Table III
m1 = 270g
mA = 220g, x = 40cm, s = 61cm tx = 0.45s
Given tx Measured tx Percent Predicted Measured ts Percent
Difference ts Difference
(%) (%)
0.45 0.455 .03 1.52 1.535 .66
1.01m = 1/2a * 1.862
a = 0.58 m/s2
4 ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION
The analysis was performed taking into account Newton’s Second Law which
states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables
- the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. The
acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon
the object, and inversely upon the mass of the object. As the force
acting upon an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is
increased. As the mass of an object is increased, the acceleration of the
object is decreased. We used an Atwood machine with two different masses
to show the the difference in acceleration between the two masses. Our
