Newtons Laws Lab

Kayla Eldridge
PSCI-1114 Summer 2017

Due: July 9, 2017

Problem Statement:
A) Will a penny placed on top of a card, which is placed on top of a glass, move with the
card when it is moved quickly in a horizontal direction?
B) Does increasing the diameter of a balloons circumference increase the speed at which it
travels in a straight line?
Background Knowledge:
Newtons laws:
1) Every object remains at rest or its state of uniform straight-line motion unless acted
upon by an unbalanced force.
2) The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force action on it, and
inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
3) Whenever two objects interact, the force exerted on one object is equal in size and
opposite in direction to the force exerted on the other object. ( For every action, there is
an equal and opposite reaction)
Hypothesis:
A) The penny will remain on the card when a horizontal force is placed on the card, falling
off only because of imbalance when the card falls.
B) The balloon will travel faster when it is blown up to a larger diameter.
Procedure:
A) I began this experiment by collecting my needed materials: coffee cup, penny, playing
card. I then placed the card on top of the coffee cup to form a table like setting. I then
placed the penny in the center of the playing card that was perched on top of the coffee
cup. Next I used my finger to swiftly flick the playing card in a horizontal motion and
observed what happened to the penny.
B) I also began this experiment by collecting my needed materials: fishing line (About 8 ft
total), a black marker, balloon, a straw, tape, my phone to use as a stop watch, two
kitchen chairs to tie the string between, and pencil and paper to record my data. I then
threaded the string through the straw. Next, I tied the string between the two chairs in
my house. Next I measured 6 foot of line and made a black mark at the starting and
ending point of 6 feet. After that I blew the balloon up to approximately 3 inches in
 diameter, but did not tie it. While holding the balloon, I had my sister help me tape the
balloon to the straw and placed the straw right at the beginning mark of the 6ft. I then
released the balloon while my sister used the stopwatch to record the time it took for it
to reach the ending 6 ft mark. We repeated this until we were able to collect three times
that were reasonably similar. (We had one or two trials that we know were due to
human error on the stop watch, so probably did the trial run about 6 times.) I recorded
all data for the times when the balloon was at the approximate diameter of 3inches.
Finally, I repeated the process of blowing the balloon up, releasing it, and recording the
time it took for it to travel to the ending mark, only this time I blew the balloon up to
approximately 6 inches in diameter.

Graph:
A) NO DATA TO REPORT
6
B) Using the formula : = =

I calculated the speed and listed it below.

Free Fall Lab

Distance Fallen
2ft 4ft 8ft
Time 1: 0.18 0.25 0.46
Time 2: 0.17 0.24 0.48
 Time 3: 0.19 0.26 0.45
Time 4: 0.19 0.23 0.42
Time 5: 0.18 0.25 0.49

Average Time
0.18 0.25 0.46

Acceleration
in Ft/s^2 123.456 128.205 75.614

Questions:
1) Why did the penny not fly off the glass with the card?
Answer: The penny did not have enough friction to stay on the card when it was flicked,
it instead fell straight into the cup. The force you exerted by flicking the card was
exerted only on the card.
2) Which of Newtons Laws of Motion does the flying card experiment demonstrate?
Explain.
Answer: Newtons first law of motion explains that an object will stay at rest until acted
upon an outside force. The penny is at a state of rest on top of the card, when you flick
the card, you exert no force on the penny and the force of gravity pulls it downward into
the cup.
3) Which of Newtons Laws of Motion does the straw rocket experiment demonstrate?
Explain
Answer: I feel like a little of all three of Newtons laws are present in this experiment.
When you release the balloon, it moves because the air is being released, and continues
to move until air resistance causes it to stop. (Demonstrating Law #1). Newtons 2 nd law
is represented when the balloon is increased in diameter. This shows that the
acceleration is directly proportional to the force causing it to move. ( The air inside the
balloon.) Finally the 3rd law is represented by the air moving out of the balloon, causing
the balloon to propel forward. The action of the air leaving the balloon equals the
reaction of it moving across the string.

4) Why does the rocket travel faster when the balloon is largest?
Answer: The rocket travels faster when the balloon is largest because of Newtons third
law. The balloon is releasing more air, or exerting a greater force, causing it to travel
proportionately farther.

5) What was the source of the energy that propelled the rocket? Hint: It is not the
balloon!
Answer: The source of energy was the air being released from the balloon. The air that
was in the balloon escaped through the balloon opening, causing it to move forward.
Conclusion:

A) My hypothesis was not supported. The penny did not travel with the card, but
instead fell straight down into the cup.
B) My hypothesis was supported. The balloon traveled faster when it was blown up to
a greater diameter.