Free Fall LabPhysics 131 NRHasbrook 210September 31st 2015Abstract: In this experiment we used a motion sensor to graph the free fall patterns of a gold ball and a human as they moved underneath the sensor. This experiment is useful is showing the how objects change velocity and acceleration as they time goesby. With the help of the computer program two graphs can be creates (time vs. position, and time vs. velocity) to show the patterns tested by the sensor. Questions1. Uniform circular motion is when an object is moving around in a circular shape with a constant centripetal force acting upon it. In the lab the bobber was moving around the circumference of a circle at a constant rate so the bobber was in circular uniform. An object is accelerating if it is in circular motion because for something to be accelerating it must be changing speed or direction and the direction of the vectors changes as it moves. Centripetal acceleration is measurement of motion that is applied to an object when it moves in a uniform circular motion. There must be centripetal force acting upon the moving object. The speed of centripetal acceleration is constant. It is constant when the vector of magnitude is pointing towards the center of the object that is moving.2. The greatest effect on the magnitude of acceleration would be caused by reducing the speed by half. For example we are able to test this by using the formula Fc=Mv2r. If we were to set a control group of M=10 v=10 and r=10then the Fc would be 2000. If we divided the speed by two it would be M=10 v=5 and r=10 which is 3. When an object is moving around in a circular shape, the centripetal force is the force that is directed at the center of that circular shape but acts on the object moving .4. By looking at the time vs. velocity graph we can clearly see that when the graph goes below zero the velocity is negative. This is the point when the ball is at the top of the jump and hitting the floor.5. The moments where the balls velocity is zero is when the ball is changing direction in the air from going up to going down. To be in free fall the ball would have to have no forces except gravity acting upon it. When the balls hits the ground, the normal force from the ground is pushing against the ball and it is not longer in free fall at this moment.6. The difference between the standing position and the position at the top of the sensor was about .2m. This shows how high off the floor she was at the top of her jump.7. The velocity vs. time graph shows free fall at the point where the graph is increasing and where the graph is decreasing. You are in free fall at all times, besides when you change direction at the top of the jump and when you hit the ground.8. According to our graph, the amount of time spent in free fall was about .4 seconds.9. The free fall acceleration does not depend on the mass of the object. The ball and human had very different masses but fell at about the same rate. The rateof acceleration does not depend on the mass of the object, which changes from object to object, but it depends on the force of gravity which remains constant.Conclusion: After conducting this experiment and graphing out the data. We can conclude that the acceleration rates do not change when the mass of the object changes. The force of gravity is constant. Objects free fall as long as no forces except gravity are applied to them. Both graphs for the human jump and the ball drop had about the same slope, or acceleration. This showed that the objects moved at about the same