Florida Atlantic University – PHY 2048LExperiment 5 Lab Report: PHY2048L 007: Experiment 5: Atwood’s Machine

Florida Atlantic University – PHY 2048LExperiment 5 Lab Report: PHY2048L 007: Experiment 5: Atwood’s Machine

Florida Atlantic University – PHY 2048LExperiment 5 Lab Report: PHY2048L 007: Experiment 5: Atwood’s Machine Document Content and Description Below: 

PHY2048L 007: Experiment 5: Atwood’s Machine February 21, 2019 Purpose The purpose of this experiment is to apply Newton’s 2^nd law by utilizing Atwood’s machine. The Atwood machine will be used to study the relationship between the mass, acceleration and net forces. The distribution of the mass between the two weights will be the independent variable and time is the dependent variable within the experiments.

Equipment Photogate/Pulley System (ME-6838A), thread, mass and hanger set, 120-cm long rod, table clamp, PASCO 850 interface, computer. Theory In an ideal Atwood’s machine, it is assumed to have a massless and frictionless pulley so that the pulley does not rotate when the heavier object (m_1) accelerates downward while the lighter object (m_2) accelerates upward as shown in

Figure 1. Free-body diagram is the most important tool to identify the relevant forces acted on a body. Figure 2 shows the free-body diagrams for m_1 and m_2 respectively (m_1>m_2). Application of Newton’s second law (F ⃗=ma ⃗) for linear motion to m_1 and m_2 gives: Eliminating T from (1) and (2) yields 〖(m〗_1-m_2)g=(m_1+m_2)a from which the linear acceleration of m_1 and m_2 can be determined: Procedure