Activity Overview
In this lesson, students will collect data on the magnitude of the force acting on an object resting on an inclined plane.
Objectives
- Students will measure or calculate the net force on an object.
- Students will describe the relationship between mass, weight, and gravitational acceleration.
- Students will measure or calculate the normal force due to gravity on an object.
About the Lesson
Finally, students plot the ratio of the perpendicular force to the object's weight versus the angle of the plane. They observe that a cosine function best fits their data.