Physics and Measurement Lab

	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3	Trial 4	Trial 5	Trial 6
Length (cm)	10.00 cm	7.80 cm	5.00 cm	16.10 cm	6.15 cm	4.45 cm
Width (cm)	7.50 cm	7.25 cm	4.80 cm	9.15 cm	3.60 cm	3.35 cm
Thickness (cm)	4.00 cm	4.35 cm	5.05 cm	3.75 cm	3.75 cm	3.50 cm
Mass (g)	177.34 g	82.75 g	55.77 g	193.95 g	38.79 g	27.77 g

Trial	Distance (m)	Time (s)
1	1.43 m	.22 s
2	1.43 m	.34 s
3	1.43 m	.25 s
4	1.43 m	.44 s
5	1.43 m	.47 s
6	1.43 m	.34 s

	Volume (cm^3)	Mass (g)
Trial 1	300 cm^3	177.34 g
Trial 2	246 cm^3	82.75 g
Trial 3	121 cm^3	55.77 g
Trial 4	552 cm^3	193.95 g
Trial 5	83.0 cm^3	38.79 g
Trial 6	52.2 cm^3	27.77 g

ANALYSIS
1.)  Trial 1= 3.00 x 10^2 cm^3;  Trial 2= 246 cm^3;  Trial 3= 121 cm^3;  Trial 4= 552 cm^3; Trial 5= 83.0 cm^3;  Trial 6= 52.2 cm^3

2.)  a.)  Trial 1= 6.00 cm;  Trial 2= 3.45 cm;  Trial 3= .25 cm;  Trial 4= 12.35cm;  Trial 5= 2.55 cm;  Trial 6= 1.10 cm
       b.)  Trial 1= 936 cm^3; Trial 2= 392 cm^3;  Trial 3= 18.2 cm^3;  Trial 4= 4120 cm^3;  Trial 5=  185 cm^3;  Trial 6= 50.5 cm^3
       c.)  By multiplying many length measurements together the measurement becomes less accurate and precise according to the original answer.

3.)  All the blocks in the experiment fell from the same height however, not all blocks fell in the same amount of time.  This result is because of reasons such as: the different mass of the blocks of wood, a possible flaw in the timer, and/or a possible flaw in the person dropping the wood blocks.

4.)  The graph is shown above.


CONCLUSIONS
5.)  Trial 1= .591 g to 1 cm^3;  Trial 2= .336 g to 1 cm^3;  Trial 3= .461 g to 1 cm^3; Trial 4= .351 g to 1 cm^3;  Trial 5= .467 g to 1 cm^3;  Trial 6= .532 g to 1 cm^3;  The relationship of mass and volume is that as mass increases so does the volume and as the mass decreases the volume decreases as well.

6.)  The experiment could have had a method error if more it was performed using more than one method; for example using a meter stick and calculating the measurement inaccurate.  Also, there could be an instrument error if the experiment was performed with faulty equipment such as a unbalanced scale and/or a meter stick in poor condition.  In order to ensure that the experiment is precise and accurate, you should test the equipment before using it in the experiment.  The role of human reaction time played a key part in this lab because of the short amount of time the timer had in order to make an accurate and precise measurement.


EXTENSION
7.)  Unfortunately, the class did not conduct this extra experiment but, this exercise suggests that each timer will come up with a different time measurement due to the varying human reaction times.  There might be a couple of students that come up with the same measurement but, the chances that all students have the same measurement is slim.  All in all, it would show that there can't be one set way of measuring time because everyone (timers) are different.