Re: "acceleration due to gravity" (high school)

["Eric T. Lane" <elane@CECASUN.UTC.EDU>]

Actually one gets much more accurate results by measuring the
positions of the points and fitting to a parabolic curve.  The
second order parameter is just one-half g.

Prof. Eric T. Lane  318 Grote Hall  423-755-4523  eric-lane@utc.edu
Physics Dept.2352, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN 37403

On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Joel Rauber wrote:

> > Subject: Re: "acceleration due to gravity" (high school)
> >
> >
> > Do HS's still do the Behr free fall?  Even if its resolution
> > was better than 0.7 % How
> > would one measure the frame's contribution to g?
> >
> > > Bluffton, OH 45817
>
> We still use the Behr Free Fall apparatus at our university; and I love
> using it as a lab.  I don't view it as a lab to measure g, but rather a
> wonderful hands on experience to measure Delta x's and find average speeds,
> and then a chance to plot these in meaningful ways to see plots of speed vs.
> time to see the straight line curves etc.
>
> Actually taking a meter stick and measuring the delta x between those spots
> seems so much better for getting the point across than having computers
> automatically measure it and plot it.
>
> Joel