What is the affect of mass on terminal velocity?
Hypothesis
If an object has greater mass, then it will have a greater terminal velocity.
Materials
In order to determine the affect of mass on terminal velocity, we are given the following tools:
- Motion Sensor
- Xplorer Device
- 5 Coffee Filters
Procedure
1. Attach xplorer device to the motion sensor and place the motion sensor on the floor. Make sure it is set to the toy car setting and sensor is facing straight upwards.
2. Hold one coffee filter from a distance of over 1 metre directly above the motion sensor. Make sure the exact same distance is used for proceeding trial.
3. Start the timing with the xplorer and drop the coffee filter. Record qualitative observations.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 using 2 coffee filters stacked together. Then repeat with 3, 4 and 5 coffee filters.
2. Hold one coffee filter from a distance of over 1 metre directly above the motion sensor. Make sure the exact same distance is used for proceeding trial.
3. Start the timing with the xplorer and drop the coffee filter. Record qualitative observations.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 using 2 coffee filters stacked together. Then repeat with 3, 4 and 5 coffee filters.
Qualitative Data
Trial 1:
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Trial 2:
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Trial 3:
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Trial 4:
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Trial 5:
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
Results
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
As the number of coffee filters increase, the speed at which they fall increases. The slope of the equation of the line of best fit for each graph gives the average velocity of trial. With one coffee filter the average velocity is -0.9375 m/s. With 5 coffee filters, the average velocity is -1.9155 m/s. Generally, as the number of filters increase, so does their average velocity. With this data we can predict that if the average velocity is greater for each trial, then the terminal velocity is also greater. This can be proved using video tracker data.
The Velocity of 1 Coffee Filter Falling
The Velocity of 2 Coffee Filters Falling
The Velocity of 3 Coffee Filters Falling
The Velocity of 4 Coffee Filters in Falling
The Velocity of 5 Coffee Filters in Falling
In every trial, the velocity increases quickly initially, then stabilizes around one value. This value is the terminal velocity. With only one coffee filter, the magnitude of terminal velocity is only 1.061 m/s. With 5 coffee filters, the magnitude of terminal velocity is approximately 2.6 m/s. Because the terminal velocity is increasing each time, it can be concluded that there is a positive correlation between mass and terminal velocity.
Conclusion
If the mass of an object increases, then the terminal velocity will increase. This hypothesis was proven correct with the data obtained from the coffee filters. As the number of coffee filters increased, the velocity and terminal velocity also increased.
Potential Error
A source of error in data collection could have been the location of the experiment. The experiment was conducted in a hallway where movement of people and doors occurred often. Since a coffee filter is very light, it could easily be moved by any draft created from movement in the surrounding area. To reduce this, the experiment should be conducted in a small room where little to no external forces could be acting on it. Also, there is error in the fact that when the coffee filter was dropped, it did not fall straight down. This is probably due to the shape of the coffee filter not being completely uniform throughout it's radius. To reduce this, coffee filters need to be carefully selected in order to use ones with the most consistent shape possible and little to no folding.