Inertial balance Lab PDF

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Summary

Lab was completed on notebook paper and later transferred to word document to neatly print and hand it to the instructor. This was because these assignments were summative and weighted heavily....

Description

Inertial balance PURPOSE The force of gravity is very important in order to find the mass of an object on earth. Usually a TripleBeam Balance is used to measure the mass. But, when there is no gravitational force present on the international space station, this instrument won’t work. So, to measure the mass of the object on space, an Inertial Balance is used. This works by putting the desired object and calibrating it, or in other words finding how long it takes for the inertial balance with its object on top, to reach a set amount of frequency/vibrations. So, the purpose of this lab is to find the mass of the three unknown objects using the Inertial Balance, what are the limits (minimum and maximum mass it can hold) of the instrument, and its precision: are there any visible difference between the given grams (50, 100, 200, etc.)?

PROCEDURE 1. Set up the Inertial Balance by using the tool to hold it to the table. 2. Set up table for the data: (from left to right) Grams, 5 trials for the time it took, and below all this with the unknown object’s 5 trials as well. 3. Find the frequency of each gram: how long does it take to reach 10 oscillations? 4. Record the data. 5. Find the frequency of each unknown object: how long does it take to reach 10 oscillations? (Repeat same as step 2) 6. Record the times for the unknown objects with 5 trials as well. 7. Graph the data of the given grams only with Mass (g) in the x-axis and Frequency in the y-axis. 8. Find the slope of the line of best fit: calculate rise over run and the y-intercept from the graph. 9. Using the slope equation, substitute the unknown object’s seconds in 10 oscillations into the y to get x, which is the mass of the unknown object. Do this for all 3 objects. 10. Lastly, find limits of the Inertial Balance and prove precision occurs with the data and its results.

DATA Grams 20 g 50 g 100 g 200 g 300 g 500 g -Unk 1-Unk 2-Unk 3-

Trial 1 2.62 sec 3.41 sec 4.05 sec 5.24 sec 6.12 sec 9.01 sec 7.56 sec 4.75 sec 3.69 sec

Trial 2 2.82 sec 3.28 sec 4.25 sec 5.18 sec 6.16 sec 8.90 sec 7.57 sec 4.90 sec 3.73 sec

Trial 3 2.82 sec 3.02 sec 4.26 sec 5.23 sec 6.18 sec 8.95 sec 7.12 sec 4.78 sec 3.62 sec

Trial 4 2.81 sec 3.31 sec 4.38 sec 5.10 sec 6.13 sec 8.75 sec 7.63 sec 4.76 sec 3.59 sec

Trial 5 2.82 sec 3.33 sec 4.12 sec 5.37 sec 6.15 sec 8.70 sec 7.36 sec 4.79 sec 3.67 sec

Most occurring numbers: X Grams 20 g 50 g 100 g 200 g 300 g 500 g

Y Trial 1 2.82 sec 3.27 sec 4.21 sec 5.22 sec 6.15 sec 8.86 sec

Grams -Unk 1-Unk 2 -Unk 3-

RESULTS Graphed with only the given grams data, not the unknown objects.

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Trial 1 2.78 sec 3.27 sec 4.21 sec

Slope of the Line of Best Fit:

Finding the Mass of the Unknown objects using the slope: (Printed and then drawn over)

Limits: The minimum mass that the inertial balance could hold was 10.2 g, although it wasn’t recorded as a data. Though taking 20 grams into account, it took approximately 2.82 sec to complete 10 oscillations. With this mass compared to the other grams with more mass used, the 20 grams takes less time to reach the 10 oscillations. Therefore, if 10.2 grams was recorded, it would have taken less than 2.82 seconds because this has less mass than the 20 gram’s mass. The less mass the object has, the less time it takes to reach the 10 vibrations. The maximum mass that the inertial balance could hold was 100 grams combined with a 500 grams, totaling to 600 grams. So, if an object with a mass higher than 600 was being recorded, it would not give accurate data to find its results. Either the object has to be less than or equal to 600 grams to let the inertial balance be sturdy. When a 200 grams and 500 grams were put in the balance, it had completely tilted to one side without any constant movement when let go, hence the 5 trials for it were not recorded.

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Precision: From the recorded data, it is shown that as the grams have more mass, it tends to be take longer to reach its 10 oscillations that were set in this lab. This is proven from the recorded data that when the 100 g was put on the instrument, it took approximately 4.21 seconds to complete 10 vibrations. But, when 200 g was put, it took 5.22 seconds. It is visible that there is difference in mass and frequency and the time it increases for each gram. To make the precision of the resulted data even clearer, when 300 g was put on the instrument, it took approximately 6.15 seconds to complete 10 vibrations. But, when 500 grams was put, it took 8.86 seconds to complete its vibrations as well. There is a big difference in the time and the grams as the seconds jump from 6.15 seconds to 8.86 seconds in the data, with a gap of 400 g which wasn’t included. Additionally, when the unknown objects were used to find its mass with the Inertial balance, using the slope of the graphed data with the given grams, the mass concluded in the results prove its accuracy as well, since the objects were in difference with mass from each other. The data can conclude that, one out of the three objects had more mass from the rest because of the time: 7.45 seconds. Another object, more specifically, Unknown object #2 had less mass than unknown object #1 and more mass than unknown object #3. The last object had less mass and took less time to reach 10 vibrations than the rest. This is all stated because of its time that takes to reach the vibrations, and how much mass it had. Therefore, precision occurs; and proves the accuracy of the data.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION When gravitational force isn’t present on the International Space Station, an Inertial Balance is used instead of Triple-Beam Balance, to find an object’s mass. This lab was basically if masses can be concluded from three unknown objects. To do so, the object should be placed on the Inertial Balance and then calibrated to find its vibrations. The set amount of vibrations an object had to complete in this lab was 10. First, specific grams were placed and calibrated, then recorded according to how long the object being on the balance, took to complete 10 oscillations. Once recorded on an organized table, with 5 trials and the grams between 20-500, along with the 3 unknowns, it was further set in another with its most occurring times of the grams. A graph was possible with these specific given grams data, and a slope was calculated using the rise over run method, as well as the y-intercept which was found from the free-handed line of best fit (with x as the mass and y as the frequency). The slope equation was very useful to calculate the 3 unknown objects’ masses. According to the steps stated before, the precision and limits of the Inertial Balance were concluded using the resulted data and its graph. Like stated multiple times before, the object’s mass was influential on its time to reach the 10 oscillations. The more the mass, the more time it took to complete the vibrations; the less mass it had, it took less time to complete its vibrations. This can be proven from the data when 20 grams was placed, it took 2.82 seconds and when 50 grams was placed, it took 3.27 seconds to complete, which basically proves the accuracy of this lab, or in simpler word: precision.

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