The direct relationship of the acceleration to the

angle of the inclined plane

Reynan S. Fernandez, Marie Claire P. Rios, Joyce Ann C. Rivad,
Camille L. Guillermo, Justin Rome de Jesus
Senior High School-STEM strand
Antipolo Institute of Technology, Antipolo, Philippines 1870
nananhart69@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the relationship between the angle of incline plane and the acceleration was
explored. How far and fast the object traveled on a various elevation of the other edge of
the inclined plane were calculated. The data were used to calculate the acceleration due to
gravity by finding the slope of acceleration and the sin 𝜽. The result is actually far from the
accepted value primarily because of human and equipment error having 29.65 %
discrepancy. Still, there is directly relationship with the angle of inclined plane to the
acceleration the object experienced.

Keywords: Angle of the incline plane, acceleration due to gravity, height, slope,

INTRODUCTION

When a particle changes in velocity with time, it actually undergoes acceleration.

Furthermore, we can apply this concept to a particle placed on a tilted surface which normally
slide down the surface. The rate at which the object slides down the surface is dependent upon
how tilted the surface is; the greater the tilt of the surface, the faster the rate at which the object
will slide down it. In physics, a tilted surface is called an inclined plane. Objects are known to
accelerate down inclined planes because of an unbalanced force. To understand this type of
motion, it is important to analyze the forces acting upon an object on an inclined plane. There are
always at least two forces acting upon any object that is positioned on an inclined plane - the
force of gravity and the normal force. The force of gravity (also known as weight) acts in a
downward direction and an object falling solely under the influence of gravity is said to be in free
fall; yet the normal force acts in a direction perpendicular to the surface (in fact, normal means
"perpendicular"). In this experiment, we were going to discuss the how does the acceleration is
influence by height titled with. Moreover, the objective of this experiment is to find the
acceleration due to the gravity mathematically. (1) (2) (3)
THE MATERIALS AND METHODS

The materials that were used in this study are (a) Track with end stop (b) Pascar/cart (c)
Pivot clamp (d) base and support rod (e) stopwatch (f) Graph paper.

The track was set up with a pivot clamp and support rod. The cart was pulled up to the
track and records the initial position where the cart will be released from rest. The cart was
released from rest and a stopwatch was used to record the how long it took to reach the end stop.
The person who released the cart should also operate the stopwatch. The same process used in
different elevation from 15 inches (38. 1 cm.), 14 inches (35.36 cm.), 13 inches (33.02 cm.), 12
inches (30.48 cm.), 11 inches (27.94 cm), 10 inches (25.4 cm.) and 9 inches (22.86). Record the
initial position, final position, distance traveled (cm.) and the total time traveled (seconds).

The figure 1 illustrates the graphical concept of the

experiment where it used various heights that give us
different angles for each at the same distance the object
traveled. In this figure, we can create a right triangle
where the theta (𝜃) is the opposite of the height and the
hypotenuse is the total distance traveled.

When a cart moves on a plane that is inclined at an angle

𝜃, the component of the force acting on the cart in a
direction that is parallel to the surface of the plane is mg
Figure 1 sin 𝜃, where m is the mass of the cart and g is the
acceleration due to the gravity.

Concepts of rolling the object

Figure 2. The illustration of the incline plane using torque

f=m.a
 Next, we can apply the Newton’s second law of motion

Total Force =m.a

W.sin 𝜃= m.a

m.g.sin 𝜃= m.a

g=a /sin 𝜃

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

After conducting the experiment, various data were record and collected to further
examine the how does every variable or physical concepts were related to each other. Table and
graphs are presented to illustrate the result of the conducted experiment.

Table1. Initial and Final position

Initial release position 20 cm.

Final position 120 cm.

Distance traveled 100 cm.

A 120 cm. track is used wherein the Pascar was traveled about 100 cm, it is initially
positioned at 20 cm and finally positioned at 120 cm as it was released.

Table 2. Table 2. Position and time of a cart rolling down

Time 38. 1 cm 35.36 cm 33.02 cm 30.48 cm 27.94 cm 25.4 cm 22.86 cm

Trial 1 0.66 0.85 0.89 0.86 0.92 1.33 1.28

Trial 2 0.79 0.79 0.76 0.63 1.10 1.36 1.31
Trial 3 0.67 0.93 0.97 0.77 1.06 1.26 1.32
Trial 4 0.83 0.99 0.99 1.02 1.11 1.14 1.20
Trial 5 0.88 1.05 1.185 1.05 1.07 1.29 1.37
Trial 6 0.69 0.79 0.74 0.99 1.20 1.26 1.31
Trial 7 0.82 0.95 0.76 1.07 1.23 1.26. 1.40
Trial 8 0.95 1.08 0.99 1.04 1.14 1.21 1.41
Trial 9 0.85 0.88 1.13 1.21 1.18 1.30 1.43
Trial 10 0.82 0.89 0.98 0.96 1.25 1.25 1.17
Average 0.796 0.92 0.939 0.965 1.126 1.26 1.32
time (s)
 The table 2 depicts the measured time the cart traveled for every 10 trials at different
height or angle inclined.

This time, we need to calculate the acceleration and the sin (𝜃) using their respective
formula.

Acceleration= 2d/t² sin(𝜃)= opposite/adjacent

Table 3. Acceleration of the cart rolling down incline

Height Acceleration sin(𝜃)

38.10 cm 2(100 cm)/ (0.796 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 38.10 cm/100
= 315.65 cm/s² t² = 0.381

35.36 cm t² 2(100 cm)/ (0.920 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 35.36 cm/100

= 236.94 cm/s² = 0.3536

33.02 cm 2(100cm)/ (0.939 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 33.02 cm/100

= 226.83 cm/s² = 0.3302

30.48 cm 2(100 cm)/ (0.965 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 30.48 cm/100

= 214.77cm/s² = 0.3048

27.94 cm 2(100 cm)/ (1.126 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 27.94 cm/100

= 157.74 cm/s² = 0.2794

25.40 cm 2(100 cm)/ (1.266 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 25.40 cm/100

= 124.79 cm/s² = 0.2540

22.86 cm 2(100 cm)/ (1.320 seconds) ² sin(𝜃)= 22.86 cm/100

= 114.78 cm/s² = 0.2286

Using the data above, as we can actually say that the greater the plane is inclined, the
little the time the object traveled. Moreover, the greater the acceleration the object experienced.
 Figure 2. Acceleration vs. sin 𝜃

350

300

Acceleration 250

200

150

100

50

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45

sin 𝜃

In the graph above, we can see the trend forming a line and with this we can actually
determine the value of acceleration due to gravity by finding its slope. The formula to find the
slope is the same as the formula we derive using the Newton’s second law of motion;

g=a /sin 𝜃

Using the formula, we can determine the value of acceleration due to gravity

Slope 1269.66
Percentage error 29.55 %

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The experiment proves that the higher elevation the surface is, the little time it consumes
travelling, hence, the higher the acceleration the object experienced. The measured value of the
acceleration due to gravity 1269 cm. per second squared was about 29.55 % higher compare to
the commonly accepted value of 980 cm. per second squared. It was certainly expected that the
result will not actually exact as the theoretical value since the track is only assumed to be
frictionless. Erstwhile, we can observe that there is a big discrepancy of the result to the accepted
value and this may be rooted to physical and equipment error. The fact that the stopwatch used in
the experiment was from the cellular phone, the accuracy of measuring the time might be low
because of the touch screen compare to a real stopwatch that can easily click with. Also, height
of the inclined plane may also be a factor because the experiment was told to use the unit if
inches then it will be going to convert into the unit of centimeters, the accuracy of the
measurement may be low because of unit conversion. Also, the change of the persons per trial
who will use the stopwatch is also a factor because of varying timing. It is important that the
measurement of the time the object traveled the track is accurately measured because most of the
variable to be computed is constant like the distance traveled and the height of the inclined plane
and the time is only the one that is changing per trial. Moreover, the concept of direct
relationship of the acceleration and the angle of the inclined plane can be obviously observed.

REFERENCES

(1) The Physics Classroom Tutorial. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-3/Inclined-Planes.

Prima, E. C., Mawaddah, M., Winarno, N., & Sriwulan, W. (2016). Kinematics investigations of
cylinders rolling down a ramp using tracker. doi: 10.1063/1.4941183

Investigation into the relationship between acceleration and the angle of free fall downhill -
International Baccalaureate Physics - Marked by Teachers.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.markedbyteachers.com/international-baccalaureate/physics/investigation-into-the-
relationship-between-acceleration-and-the-angle-of-free-fall-downhill.html.