Comparing Constant Velocity to Constant Acceleration

The purpose of this lab was to compare constant velocity to constant acceleration. Constant velocity means that an object is not changing in speed or direction, the two cases in which this occurs is when the object is not in motion and when it is moving but not accelerating. Constant acceleration occurs when an object is changing speed at a constant rate.

The lab we did in class involved rolling a metal ball across a table at a constant velocity and marking down on the table every .5-second made on the metronome (steady pulse). As a group we then measured the distance between each mark to calculate the constant velocity in which the ball moved at. We knew that the ball was traveling at a constant velocity because it traveled 19 cm per .5 second. In part two we tracked the movement of a marble moving at constant acceleration on an inclined surface. The marks grew increasingly apart as time went on due to the fact that the ball was gaining speed. As a group we measured the distance between the starting marks and the marks made afterwards (.5 seconds apart) to serve as the x and y axis on our graph.

The formula used for constant velocity is (v=d/t) which is the distance divided by time. For all graphs made to show constant velocity the distance between points will always be equidistant. The formula for constant acceleration is d=(1/2)at^2 which is the distance equal to half of the acceleration multiplied by the time squared. On our graph showing constant acceleration there was a curved line connecting to the dots.

This graph shows constant velocity. The graph we made in our
lab for constant velocity looked similar to this

This graph shows constant acceleration. The graph we made in our
lab for constant acceleration looked similar to this