The Local Acceleration Due to Gravity as Determined with a Cart and Track

The aim of this lab is to determine an experimental value for the local acceleration due to gravity. In order to do this, a cart was released down a track and allowed to pass through two photogates recording the entrance and exit times of the cart. These times along with the length of a light blocking strip on the cart, were used to calculate the acceleration of the cart down the track at various angles, and through linearization, the experimental value for the local acceleration due to gravity was determined to be 10.027 ± 0.312 m/s2. This value has a percent error of only 2.2% from the accepted value of 9.8 m/s2, which proves that this method of determining local acceleration due to gravity can be effective and accurate. Additionally, this experimental value shows how similar the approximation is to the accepted value.

Measurement of Acceleration Due to Gravity Using Arduino and Ultrasonic Sensor

In this study, a simple Arduino-based experiment was designed to examine the acceleration of the object during free fall and to calculate the value of “g” (acceleration due to gravity). Experimental data on the free fall of a plastic box through the air was gathered with the help of an ultrasonic distance sensor (HC-SR04). Readings were taken at different intervals during the fall to obtain distance time curves. Acceleration during the free fall was then determined by applying the standard kinematic equations. The shape of the distance-time graphs obtained from the experimental setup was in good agreement with the predicted graphs and the calculated values of g lie within the expected range. After repeated experiments, value of gravitational acceleration was found to be 9.805 m/s2. Hardware and software prepared for the experiment are sufficient to examine movement of ordinary objects during free fall, therefore the experiment can be easily settled in a laboratory for the purpose of learning and teaching.