Measurement Activity

Time of Fall Experiment


View MIT Physics 8.01 Lecture 1 starting at 22:10 (available on ITunes U and MIT Open CourseWare) and then discuss the following questions. For your convenience, Prof. Lewin's analysis and measurements are reproduced below.

Prof. Lewin's dimensional analysis:dimensional analysis aragument

Prof: Lewin's height measurements:height measurements

Prof: Lewin's time-of-fall prediction and measured times:

Prof. Lewin's calculated results:final results


Questions:

  1. Prof. Lewin originally assumed that the time of fall of an object depended on what quantities?
  2. How did Prof. Lewin conclude that the time of fall of an object did not depend on its mass?
  3. Prof. Lewin used dimensional analysis to conclude that the time of fall of an object was proportional to what?
  4. How did Prof. Lewin arrive at an uncertainty of +/-0.006 m for his calculation of h1/h2? What would be a shortcut way to do this? Do you get the same result with the shortcut?
  5. How did Prof. Lewin justify an uncertainty of +/-0.002 s for the time of fall of the object?
  6. How did Prof. Lewin arrive at an uncertainty of +/-0.002 s for the theoretical ratio of t1/t2?
  7. How did Prof. Lewin arrive at an uncertainty of +/-0.008 s for the measured ratio of t1/t2?
  8. Do Prof. Lewin's experimental results confirm or cast doubt on his hypothesis. Explain your answer clearly.

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last update March 27, 2008 by JL Stanbrough