Question

A)    Suppose that, in Lab # 4, you measured the height of the air track as h = 10 cm and the distance d = 134 cm. What is the acceleration of the glider (use acceleration due to gravity to 9.80 m/s2) (Give your answer in three decimal places).

B) Suppose that, in Lab#4, you measured the average acceleration to be 0.4 in m/s² when the distance,in meters, is 0.7. What is the speed of the glider in m/s? Give your answer in three decimal places.

Answer 1

A) We can notice that the acceleration of the glider (in absence of friction forces) is the horizontal

component of g. From the diagram we can calculate it as

Geometrically, the sine is the quotient of the height and the hypotenuse

of the inclined plane

B) We can calculate velocity with the formula

If the glider starts at rest we get