🚗 Toy Car Motion Lab 🚗
Maryam Skairek
Toy Car Motion Lab
Claim:
- The toy car travels at a consistent momentum every meter.
- Based on the data received, the toy car accelerates at an average of 4.91 meters per second, meaning it does not travel at constant speed.
Observations:
- When the toy car moves past two in a half meters, it starts to curve off the track just a little bit.
- While looking at the data table, each meter had a relatively close time. Meaning the constant speed per meter is pretty consistent.
Evidence:
Procedures:
#1) First, grab a meter stick and place it vertically in front of you.
Tip: Make sure the terrain you are conducting this experiment on, is flat and solid. Meaning no hills, bumps, papers or any obstacle that can throw your analysis off. Not only that, but make sure you have enough space to manage this operation.
#2) Secondly, mark both ends of the meter stick with masking tape to indicate the start and finish line of trail one.
Tip: To save time, repeat this step two more times. In other words, you place the meter stick in front of the last tape mark you made, then mark your second meter. In the end, you will be left with four tape marks. Also, make sure your masking tape is a little bit more longer than the width of the toy vehicle. This helps keep your tape marks visible when it comes time for you car to pass the finish line.
#3) Thirdly, have your partner stand to the side of you. This makes sure that they see the car moving from left to right or vice versa. (It helps them see the car finishing and starting more easily). Now, you pick up your toy car, turning the on button while keeping it running in your hands.
Tip: In squat position, face yourself directly in front of the very first tape mark. The toy car must be behind the first tape mark.
#4) After settling into position, let go off the toy car the very moment you here your partner say “Go!”. Finally, wait until the toy car passes the desired meter mark with its back wheels in front of the masking tape and hit the pause button on the stop watch. Record your data into the table as shown below.
Personal Information and Experiences:
- Today, the world benefits from constant speed daily. Although many might have never noticed it, we use constant speed in machinery such as the clothing dryer. Yes, I said the clothing dryer. Its spin cycle uses constant speed to equally dry the soggy clothes. This uses Newton’s first law of motion. Not only that, but the very things we see our beautiful world with. Satellites. “A satellite in circular orbit has a constant speed which depends only on the mass of the planet and the distance between the satellite and the center of the planet” (Orbital Speed). This piece of evidence tells us a little bit more about constant speeds in outer space! Last but not least, we all love amusement rides. Don’t we? Well, I’m almost guaranteed that every ride in any amusement park uses constant speed. However, they use it for several reasons such as the certain amount of time it takes to ride the actual ride. The point I’m trying to make is that constant speed is very relevant in people’s daily lives. Constant speed is all around us and it uses the same law as the one in this experiment.
Trail # 1 2 3 4 5 6
Distance (cm) 100 100 200 200 300 300
Time (s ) 2.82 3.16 4.86 4.88 6.84 6.92
Velocity (cm/s) 35.46 31.65 41.15 40.98 43.86 43.35
Graph:
Reasoning:
- The evidence shown above supports my claim because the time between each trial remains fairly similar. This means that some trails have time that are barely a few seconds apart. Additionally, the alternative claim is false because the data has a constant speed; which, the evidence above has just proved. However because everyone is human, no one is expected to get the exact time and average for the toy car. A few seconds apart doesn’t change the answer at all. It only shows us that they are much more similar than everyone originally. Equally important, constant speed can be seen by anyone anywhere. The washing machine, dryer, amusement rides and satellites all represent constant speed in someway.
- Placing the toy car not completely straight causes it to curve off the track by a little. However, it still jumbles the data. In that case, they would place two rulers on either side of the masking tape, enough to fit the toy car in between both. Using the rulers as a guide, they placed the car in between and let it run giving them better precision and accuracy now that the toy car is actually heading straight.
- Furthermore, both partners realized that it’s better to have one person time and another set the car and its track up. This is because both partners had a different reaction time, when it came to stopping or starting the stopwatch.
Scientific Principles:
- One scientific principle that I can surely relate to in this experiment is Newton's first law. It states that, if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. This concept supports my evidence because the toy car had only moved in a complete straight line without being acted upon by a force. It continued to stay constant until it reached its finish line. In conclusion, with absolute results concluded from this very lab, it is safe to say that this toy car travels at a constant speed.
Work Cited:
(Orbital Speed):
Root, Jeff. "Orbital Speed." Orbital Speed. Jeff Root, 18 Sept. 2004. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Youtube Video:
Constant Velocity and Acceleration Using Toy Cars. Dir. Arbor Scienific. Perf. Arbor Scienific. Constant Velocity and Acceleration Using Toy Cars. Arbor Scienific, 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 6 Oct. 2015. <https://youtu.be/k7fjD4hkmR4?t=49>.
* The video down below is an excellent video to watch for the people who might not understand the concept of this experiment. Please feel free to watch and enjoy this short clip and explanation on this weeks project.