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Photogates Lab Report

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During this lab, we analyzed the speed, distance, and time of cars traveling down a ramp. We used photogates to detect the speed of the car. We also wanted to focus on the acceleration of cars and if a car would pick up speed while going down a ramp. To complete this task, we set up photogates at the start and end of the ramp. The photogates measured the instantaneous speed at the top of the ramp, the instantaneous speed at the bottom, and the average speed of the whole trip. We checked the instantaneous speed of certain points throughout the ramp and recorded all of the data on a table. As the car traveled down the ramp, it’s speed became faster and faster. Throughout it’s entire trip down the ramp, the car picked up speed. Near the start of the ramp, the car’s speed was around 102 centimeters per second but near the bottom of the ramp the car’s speed was about 196 centimeters per second. This discovery matched my prediction pretty well. I had thought that as the car traveled down the ramp it would pick up speed. That’s exactly what happened. Of course, I wasn’t completely correct. I thought the difference in …show more content…

Near the top of the ramp, the car’s speed was around 102 centimeters per second. In the middle of the ramp, the car’s speed was around 156 centimeters per second and near the end of the ramp, the car’s speed was around 196 centimeters per second. No one in the group pushed the car at any time. The slope of the ramp was also constant the entire time. There had to be an explanation for why the car’s speed was faster as the car went on. What we came up with was that as the car traveled down the ramp, it picked up speed. Once we plotted these points on the graph, it was extremely evident that this was in fact what had happened. The graph clearly showed that the speed of the car was increasing as it went down the

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