Objective: To calculate the average and top speed of
your Hot Wheels car and investigate velocity and slope on a time vs. distance graph.
Procedure: Have someone positioned at 10, 20, 30 and 40
feet along the track with stop watches. Send
your car down the track. Do not push
it. Just let go and let gravity do the
work. Everybody will start their
stopwatch as the car is released. As
your car passes each person, they should stop their watch. Record the data in table 1.
 |
| 40 foot Hot Wheels Track with a varying slopes |
Data:
Table 1
Time (in
Seconds)
|
Distance (in
feet)
|
0
|
0 feet
|
10 feet
|
|
20 feet
|
|
30 feet
|
|
40 feet
|
Analysis:
- To
calculate the average velocity, you take the distance traveled and divide
it by the time (v = d/t ). Calculate your average velocity by
dividing 40 feet by the time it took the car to go 40 feet. This is your velocity in feet per second.
- Calculate
the time it took for the car to go each 10 foot interval. Record your results in the table below.
Table 2
Time
|
Distance
|
0-10 feet
|
|
10-20 feet
|
|
20-30 feet
|
|
30-40 feet
|
- Calculate
the velocity for each 10 foot interval using the equation v=d/t
Table 3
Velocity
|
Distance
|
0-10 feet
|
|
10-20 feet
|
|
20-30 feet
|
|
30-40 feet
|
- Graph Table
1 using Excel. Time will be your x
variable and distance will be your y variable. Make sure you use data
labels to label the x and y coordinates of each point. Print out your graph.
- Using
your graph, calculate the slope between each point.
Table 4
Slope
|
Distance
|
0-10 feet
|
|
10-20 feet
|
|
20-30 feet
|
|
30-40 feet
|
- Compare
the Velocities in table 3 with the slopes in table 4. How are they related?
- Convert
the average velocity from analysis problem #1 and your fastest velocity
from table 3 into miles per hour.
Conclusion:
(Summarize the lab
as well as discuss the relationship between time, distance, velocity, and
slope, and how we discovered that relationship.)
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