Airtrack Videolab

In this experiment you will be able to look at the motion of a car without actually examining the cause of this motion. You will analyze the distance, velocity and acceleration of the car. Specifically by constructing and distance-time graph and using this graph to find the velocity of the car. Also a velocity-time graph will be constructed and from this you will be able to determine the acceleration. It is important to note the difference between average and instantaneous quantities.

The equipment consists of a car that moves along an air-track due to a spring and a suspended mass. The car is released from one end and moves toward the other, the spring eventually stops the car from moving. You will need the x versus t data, paste the data into a spreadsheet and construct an instantaneous velocity verus time graph, and an instantaneous acceleration versus time graph. Do this for both the light and heavy masses. Play the video to see the motion, click on the links below to go to the lab.