Your First Lab Assignment: “Dynamics Track”

Your first lab assignment is the “Dynamics Track” where you will learn more about velocity and acceleration. First, read the PDF documents that are listed below:

Click here for the “Track” handout.

Click here for the “Dynamics” handout.

Click here for the “Velocity” handout.

Click here for the “Acceleration” handout.

Once you log into the virtual physics lab, you will want to select the “Dynamics” lab. The first thing you should do is watch the video overview (remember, there is no sound). Watch the arrow as it shows you where to click to perform the lab. You will also find the instructions in the PDF documents to be extremely helpful as you work the lab.

Then, get into the Virtual Physics Lab and run several experiments, using a wide variety of data points. You need to generate a Lab Report to submit for this assignment. Here are the criteria for the Lab Report:

1. Introduction/Thesis (Explain the principles you are studying, and what results you expect to see in this experiment)
2. Background (Explain the concepts that form the foundation for this lab)
3. Methodology (Explain the apparatus used, and how you manipulated the apparatus)
4. Data (Include screen shots from the Grapher, or spreadsheets that contain data, or any charts or graphs you created)
5. Analysis (Look over the data and analyze the results – were results consistent with original expectations, or did you see something different?)
6. Conclusions (Provide your interpretation of what happened with this set of data; provide explanations of why the results turned out the way they did; indicate what sources of error may have impacted the experiment, and anticipate what should happen in future research)