Christina+and+Jennifer

Names: Christina and Jennifer = Title: Weighing Wilson  =



Lab Goal/Question: To determine the mass of a volleyball by using the expression a= F/m (Acceleration = Force/mass). Procedure: 1. Find the mass of a fully inflated volleyball in kilograms. 2. Drop the ball from one meter onto the force plate next to a meter stick while your partner is recording the drop. (Make sure to record video with camera placed horizontally and not vertically). 3. Allow the ball to bounce back up once. 4. Upload the video into the LoggerPro program by "Inserting Movie". 5. Set the scale by taking the height of the meter stick to equal one meter on the video. 6. Analyze the experiment by "Adding Points" on the ball from frame to frame as it drops and bounces back up. 7. Analyze the maximum force the ball has against the force plate when it hits. This force will be the force used in the equation. 8. Change the graph to become "Time vs. Y-Velocity". 9. Analyze graph by finding linear fit of where the ball is falling and separately where it bounces back. 10. Record each slope. The slope will be the acceleration of the ball on the way back up. 11. Use the equation "Mass = Force / Acceleration". 12. Convert grams to kilograms. 13. Use the answer you got and measure the volleyball on actual scale and compare results.

Data/Calculations:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The first graph shows the y-velocity, from which we found the acceleration with the linear fit lines. We only highlighted the section where the ball was bouncing back up because when it falls, the only force in the force of gravity. Since the ball doesn't move horizontally, the x-velocity is not important for our calculations.



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This graph shows the amount of force the ball exerts on the plate. We cropped the graph to only show the reaction force. The peak of the graph is when the ball hits the plate.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">M = F / A <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">M = 475 N / 19 m/s^2 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">M = 25 grams <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 kilogram = 1000 grams <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">25 grams / 1000 grams = .0025 kilorgrams <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mass = .0025 kilograms <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Actual mass = .0026 kilograms

<span style="color: #0058ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Conclusion: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In this lab, we used various tools to find the right calculations necessary in order to find the pieces of information in the equation M = F/A. In order to find the acceleration, we used the video camera to record our trial of the ball dropping. Using the graph, we took the slope of the line to find acceleration. To find the force the ball exerts on the ground, we used the force scale for the ball to bounce on. We used meter sticks to measure the height of the dropping point for the ball. In order to check our answer, we used a scale to observe the actual mass the volleyball and compared it to our predicted value. From this lab, we learned that force, acceleration, and mass are all related. From our procedure, we learned how to use new tools such as the force scale.