Physics 15200 Laboratory

Measurement of the Earth's Surface Gravity

Laboratory #2
Measurement of the Earth's Surface Gravity
Objective
Galileo Galilei is often referenced as the Father of Experimental Physics, having spent significant
time in the 1590's and early 1600's on experiments related to mechanics. Specifically, Galileo is
known to have used various means to study the uniform acceleration of objects falling near the Earth's
surface. The story of Galileo dropping objects from Pisa's famed Leaning Tower has been told to
generations. Whether or not he actually performed that experiment, showing that objects accelerate
towards the Earth independent of their mass, we know that he performed other, more sensitive tests of
the same concept. In this lab, we will recreate one of his experiments, attempting to measure the rate
of acceleration due to the Earth's surface gravity, known to have a mean value of 9.81 m/s2.
Introduction
The Earth exerts a gravitational force field on all objects with mass (which is practically anything you
can think of). For reasons that we will discuss in class, objects accelerate in this field at a uniform
rate, independent of their mass (i.e. a bowling ball and a ping pong ball fall at the same rate without
the effects of air resistance). Galileo was aware of this, but didn't have a complete answer as to why.
It would be Isaac Newton who put this together with a bigger picture of how the physics of motion
works. Nonetheless, Galileo made measurements of this acceleration due to gravity. Also, given that
he didn't have the bigger picture, Galileo did not realize that the value of this acceleration is actually
dependent on distance from the Earth's surface. It varies slowly enough that you'd need a sensitive
test at sea level and again at a mountain top to see the difference. So, for our purposes, we will
assume that it's a constant that has a value known of 9.80665, the adopted International Standard.
With that mentioned, you should know that the value can be as different as 9.780 m/s2 at the Earth's
equator and 9.832 m/s2 at the Earth's poles due to the oblateness of the Earth (the Earth is an oblate
spheroid, flattened at the poles and slighly bulging at its equator, due to its rotation). In this lab, you
will want to see how close you can get to 9.81 m/s2.
Experimental Procedure
The procedure for this lab is very straightforward. A device called an air track is used to provide a
ramp with an air cushion for a cart or rider which will slide down from the high side to the low side.
We will start by leveling the air track, and then create an inclined plane along the track by raising one
side by a known amount by inserting one or more flat lab weights under the air track foot. Timing each
run of the cart or rider down the track will give us the acceleration, and the surface gravity will come
2
from this acceleration measurement. Specifically, we will be looking to obtain the velocities, v and
2
v o , at two points separated by a known distance, x . Then we can use the time-independent
kinematic formula
2

v v o=2 a x
to determine the average acceleration through the distance traveled. To simplify things, it is
recommended that you use a distance of 1.00 m for x .

Physics 15200 Laboratory

Measurement of the Earth's Surface Gravity

The air track will be set up similar to the way shown in the image below. Differences will be in the
width of the flag on top of the air track cart, or rider, and the air pump that feeds pressure into the
track will be resting on the floor, under your lab bench.

The basic procedure is as follows:

1. Level the track, with the air pressure on (set between 3 and 4 with the dial on the pump). To
level the track, adjust the height of the two feet on one end of the air track, making adjustments
until the cart tends to stand still when let go from rest. It is difficult to achieve a near perfect
balance. Do your best.
2. Using a Vernier caliper, measure the thickness of a 100 g weight, which is either on your lab
bench or on the desk at the front of the lab room. There are some newer stainless steel
weights that are very close to 1.0 cm. Make several measurements, record them, and use an
average. Don't forget to calculate a standard deviation that you can use to estimate the error
in this height that will propagate into your acceleration measurement. Place the weight until
the single foot of the air track.
Note that the distance between the feet on the track is 1.0 m. Thus the sine of the angle of
inclination of the track is now the height of the weight divided by 1.0 m.
3. There will be two photogates on your bench. One of them has a digital readout. When the
gates are set to PULSE mode, a red LED on the top illuminates when the flag on the air cart
moves through the gate, breaking the light beam shining inside the gate. You can use this to
detemine exactly where the gate is along the track by using the leading edge of the cart to
measure its position along the track and then moving the photogate up to the point where the
flag causes the light to begin to turn on. Then do the same thing at a distance of 1.00 m
farther along the track. The distance between leading edges of the air cart flags will be the
same as the distance between the leading edges of the carts. So, this technique allows you to
get a good measurement of the distance between the photogates.
4. The photogates will be used in GATE mode to measure the time that the flag on the moving
cart spends inside the first gate and then the additional time spent inside the second gate. The
first time is reported as a time on the digital display. The second must be calculating by first
reading the number displayed when you toggle the switch momentarily to the READ position,
and then subtracting the first time from this total time spent in the gates.
To clarify, in GATE mode, the photogates time the duration of the flag blocking the beam inside
the gates. This is recorded as t1, the time that the flag is in the first gate, and t1 + t2, the total
time spent between the gates. So, to get the time inside the second gate, you must subtract

Physics 15200 Laboratory

Measurement of the Earth's Surface Gravity

the first number displayed from the total, which is displayed when you toggle the little silver
switch, momentarily, to the READ position.
5. You should make ten trials, creating a table of times and resulting velocities through the gates.
The velocities are computed by measuring the width of the flag on the air cart and dividing this
width by the respective times through each gate. Note that you get a velocity at the position of
each photogate.
For each trial, calculate an acceleration value from the formula above. Then calculate an
average and standard deviation of the acceleration.
6. Now, to compute the acceleration due to surface gravity, note the similarity between the
inclined plane of the air track and the triangle formed by the g vector and components
perpendicular and parallel to the plane of the air track. Show this drawing in your lab report.
You should find that:

sin =
g =

a
h
=
g
L

a
L
= a
sin
h

Thus, you should be measuring an acceleration in the neighborhood of 1/100 of g. Compare

your results to the average value of g of 9.81 m/s2.