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Atoms and Stars IST 2420 Class 4, February 4 Winter 2008 Course web site: www.is.wayne.edu/drbowen/aasw08
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Page 1: Atoms and Stars IST 2420 Class 4, February 4 Winter 2008 Course web site: .

Atoms and StarsIST 2420

Class 4, February 4

Winter 2008Course web site: www.is.wayne.edu/drbowen/aasw08

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2

Handouts & Announcements

• Initial the sign in sheet

• My cell phone number is wrong on the Syllabus (it is correct on the website).

• My cell phone number: 248-514-9458

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 3

Science and Industry• Scientific method not followed in recent

drug-company controversies (e.g. Vioxx)• Conditions in industry are indeed different

o Data and internal theories are proprietary (trade secrets)

o Executives have authorityo Decisions are made, and are to be followedo Executives often do not get bad news

• So yes, scientific method often not strictly followed in business and industry

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 4

Essay 1 due next week• On a 3½” diskette

• Do readings as assigned in Syllabus

Due tonight• Report for Lab 8 Part 1.

o Do not copy the Data Sheet over, or retype ito Procedure & Observation a MUST for each parto Analysis has ONLY items NOT on Data Sheet

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Lab Reports – Listen Up!

• Label with your name and Lab # at top• Full names of lab partners, in your

handwriting (learn their names!)• Data Sheet has (a) Procedure and (b)

Observation / measurement.o Hypothesis, if present, CLEARLY

SEPARATED.o Suggestion: Procedure, Observation,

Hypothesis labels for those sections, underlined

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 6

Online Grade Reports (repeat)

• See your line in my grade book• Disabled by default – turn in form if you

want this (you should want this)o Check to enable and write a password

• Demo• Later

o Will have averages, projected gradeo How to make up each assignment

• www.is.wayne.edu/drbowen/aasw06

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Early Academic Assessments

• Early Academic Assessments (EAA) on the basis of work through tonight

• Your EAA will be on Online Grade Reports• If you are off to a slow start, you will get a

warning letter or email from the Universityo Does not go in record, does not affect gradeso Recommendation to see a counselor

• If Online Grade Report says “OK”, no letter, no email

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 8

EAA Grades:

• -H: deficient in homework

• -L: deficient in lab work

• -E: deficient in exams and/or quizzes

• -T: deficient in attendance

• Can be doubled up, e.g. –LT

• ---: three or more problems

• These are the online grades, but they get spelled out in letter (email?)

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 9

Science and Religion getting along:

The New American Bible (Catholic), 1991, Pg 27, #15. HOW DO YOU KNOW? (what the Bible says):“… Sometimes, it is secular science which gives Christians the lead to reconsider their Bible understanding. The discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo made Christians aware that Genesis 1 is not a sacred lesson in science but a poem on creation. Most scientists hold that the human species has developed somehow from lower forms of life. This knowledge helped Christians to understand that Genesis 2 and 3 is not a lesson in Anthropology, but an allegory, teaching us the lesson that sin is the root of all evil.”

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This Course: The Big Picture

• We are following the development of modern astronomy (“Stars”)

• One side trip for what earlier people knew

• Another for the speed of light

• Then Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton

• Then Atoms: rise of modern Chemistry

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Lab 2

• Since we did not observe vacuum, did not here disprove that “nature abhors (will not allow) a vacuum;” but pretty good vacuum.o “Nature abhors” – one side of container onlyo “Sea of Air” – pressure difference between sides

• Many people had NO procedures• ALWAYS say what the Procedure was• CLEARLY separate hypotheses (reasons)• Max height suction = 34 feet of water

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Aristotle cf. Torricelli & Newton

• (cf. = “compared to”)

• Primarily for labs, at this time

• Atmospheric Pressure

• Terrestrial (i.e. earth-bound) Motion

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 13

Aristotle: Atmospheric Pressure

• Observation: wine does not run out of a barrel unless there is a hole in the top

• Aristotelian explanation: If wine did run out, air would have to enter barrel to make room.o Therefore, “nature abhors a vacuum”

o No limit to the height of the liquid column

• But we do see a vacuum if column is high enougho Therefore, “nature abhors a vacuum” is wrong

o In science, “nature is the final arbiter”

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…and Torricelli (1644 A.D.)• Atmospheric pressure = the weight of a

column of air from ground to top of atmosphereo This is limited (pressure of 34’ water, 30”

mercury)• (This limitation is NOT due to a limitation of

Torricelli’s or our technology – it is a limit on all suction pumps)

o No force pushing down on the top of the liquid• Pressure difference bottom-to-top pushes

water up – key to Torricellian explanations

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Temperamental Can• Steam in can, bottle condenses in cold water

o Steam condenses to water, much less volume (1,000:1)• Pressure difference (outside to inside) crushes can,

bottle• For right-side up pop can, atmospheric pressure

equalizes through hole in top• For upside-down can, to equalize pressure, why

doesn’t water just get sucked up?o With vacuum pump, straw, and cup, no collapse

• Instead, water is sucked up – why not with can?o Answer: speed of condensation – see Newton, later

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Temperamental Can & Newton

• F = ma (Newton, 1687) o Force = mass × accelerationo Steam inside can must condense very quickly to

make Temperamental Can work – slow condensation would just suck water up like straw

o Large acceleration means large force inwardo Outside force does not increase, so inward inside

force must drop quickly to draw water upo Decreases pressure inside cano Sudden pressure difference (outside to inside)

crushes can

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Readings:Greeks• Hellenic Period 600 – 300 BC

o Plato• Others inserted additional spheres to account for

retrograde motion and other effects, simplicity lost– Spheres intersection

– Scientific community, shared model

o Aristotle 384 – 322 BC• Studied under Plato

• 343 Phillip II of Macedon made him tutor to Alexander (Alexander the Great)

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Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period after Alexander (323 BC)

o Empire split into three partso Social support for research

• Museum and Library at Alexandria 280 BC– 500,000 scrolls, 100+ scientists and scholars

– Abstract, formal mathematics

• Other libraries also – Pergamum, Plato’s Academy

• Had legal status

• Useful results emphasized but fame of sponsor also

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 1919

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Eratosthenes, head of Library at Alexandria• Famous calculation of circumference of earth

• Also geography and cartography

o Aristarchus• Heliocentric, earth turns on axis, rotates sun

• Held implausible because things would fall off

• No parallax of stars observed (accuracy too poor) unless universe much larger than thought

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2020

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Ptolemy (2nd cent AD) used new tools to simplify geocentric model of heavens• Epicycle (small sphere moved on larger sphere,

planet on small sphere)

• Eccentrics (circle displaced from earth)

• Equant – point from which planet appeared to move at constant speed

• Almagest – manual of Astronomy

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2121

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Alchemy – transmutation of base elements into gold after Platonic forms• Often mystical and secret

o Archimedes between 290 & 280 BC, to 212 or 211 BC• Simple machines – level, wedge, screw, pulley,

windlass• Balance led to theory of weight

o Many small incremental practical improvements

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2222

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Roman engineering important but little Roman science, little translation of Greeks into Latin

o Roman navy, roads, aqueducts basis of empire o Invention of cemento Greek physician Galen (130 – 200 AD) became

known in Empire• Some advances, but thought veins and arteries

separate, so blood not able to circulate

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2323

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Decline and fall of Roman Empire – causes much debated – argued today: is our society declining?

o Decline in science also• No desire even to preserve existing knowledge• Skepticism about possibility of secure knowledge• Several theories

– No clear social role or support– Availability of slaves meant little incentive for improvement– Other-worldly orientation of new religions, especially

Christianity

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2424

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Tolerance of Christianity 313 AD, became state religion of Roman Empire in 391 AD• Hostility towards earlier civilizations included science

o Alexandria damaged when retaken 270-275 after Syrian and Arab invasion• Christian fanatics murdered Hypatia, first female

mathematician, last scholar at Library in 415

o Empire split, Western attacked by barbarians

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2525

Readings (cont’d)• Hellenistic Period (after 323 BC)

o Eastern part lasted longer but conquered by Islam in 7th cent

o Last Western Roman noble, Boethius, executed by Ostrogoth king Theodoric in 524

o Literacy declined, knowledge of Greek disappeared

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Some Greek Science

• Aristotle:o A philosopher, not a scientist in modern senseo Theories (explanations) only, not experiment

• Used common knowledge and reason (logic)• No experiments to decide between theories as with

Davy and caloric Vs kinetic theories of heat & 34’o Ideas were dominant for about 2,000 yearso Became an authority – if your theory agreed

with Aristotle, that was enough then (not now)o “Natural states” – needed no other explanation

Skip to 46

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Some Greek Science

• Aristotle:o Universe is full, no room lefto Cannot be a vacuum (vacuum: nothing)

• “Nature abhors a vacuum”

• “abhors” – hates, but here “will not allow”

o Terrestrial physics: force necessary for motion• When force stops, motion stops immediately

• Natural state of an object is rest (stopped)

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2828

Some Greek Science

• Aristotle:o Terrestrial physics: force necessary for motion

• If something coasts, air must move out of way, then move in behind to push

• Plausible, but later disproven

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 2929

Some Greek Science (cont’d)• Aristotle (cont’d):

o Celestial physics: heavens are perfect• Smooth, spherical, flawless

• Natural state: moving in a circle with constant speed

• Earth at center (geocentric)

o Elements – not made up of other matter• Earth, water, air, fire – from center of earth out

– Natural state of terrestrial matter

• “Element”: these are not made up of anything else, everything else is made up of these

• Science changed these ideas!

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Aristotle & Archimedes Q11Aristotle Archimedes

Abstract interest Practical

Covered all topics Specialized

Descriptive Quantitative

We have moved past his Physical Science (geocentric, motion stops without force, etc.)

Physical Science still current (displaced water, simple machines)

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Readings #1An Inventory of the Universe• Big Bang, created space, extremely hot• Expanded, cooled, condensed 15 BYA

o Local clumps galaxies, stars, planets• Hierarchy

o These orbit around stars (sun): planets, asteroids, meteoroids

o 9 planets (DB: now 8) and the sun are our solar systemo Stars in galaxieso Distances according to this alsoo Solar system all in approximately same planeo AU = Astronomical Unit = earth-sun distance

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 32

An Inventory of the Universe

• AU: 93 million miles – earth-sun distance• Light Year – distance light travels one year

approximately 6 trillion miles• With unaided eye: sun, moon, five planets,

a few thousand stars, three other galaxies, some comets

• Dark matter – unlit, may be bulk of matter

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 33

An Inventory of the Universe

• Galaxies: spiral (us), elliptical, irregularo Stars, dust, gas, mostly empty spaceo Groups of galaxies: clusters (us: Local Group)

• Stars: shine, power from nuclear fusiono H He. Surface thousands of degrees,

interiors up to millions of degrees. Gas only.• Nebulae: dust, gas clouds mainly where

stars are formedo reflection, emission, dark (may be backlit)

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 34

An Inventory of the Universe• Solar system: sun, nine (now 8) planets

o Inner four planets solid (earth), outer gaseous• Planets shine with steady light (stars twinkle

because of small size), wander, near plane of sun• Planets shine with reflected light from sun

o Asteroids (planetoids), diameters from two miles or less, up to 500 mi

o Moons (sixty total in solar system)o Comet – visible only on approach to sun (tail

points away from sun). Comets discovered constantly but most invisible.

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 35

An Inventory of the Universeo Meterorides burn up in earth’s atmosphere,

visible then (meteors)• Hundreds of tons of meteor debris fall to earth each

year• Sun’s future (how other stars behave):

o 5+ billion years sun red giant, enlarges to engulf Venus, earth oceans and atmosphere gone, this lasts several hundred million years

o Then white dwarf, shrinks, cools, earth dark, cools perhaps close to absolute zero, life in solar system ends

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 36

Readings #2Speed of Light

• Sound slow enough that we can hear lag relative to light

• Light is faster, we cannot ordinarily see lag

• Most Greeks believed light has infinite speedo Hero of Alexandra: light travels from eye, when

we open eyes we see stars instantly, so speed is infinite

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 37

Readings (Speed of Light cont’d)• Arabs Avicena and Alhazen 11th cent: light is

something, cannot be in two places at once• Roger Bacon ~1250 and Francis Bacon

~1600 believed light has finite speed• Johannes Kepler ~1600 light has infinite

speed• Rene Descarte ~1625 said if light speed

infinite, lunar eclipse position would lag, not observed, so must be infinite Q14

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 38

Readings (Speed of Light cont’d)• Galileo experiment: time round trip on

hilltops at different distances. Done by others, no difference seen. Q14

• 1665 Robert Hooke said light might just be “exceeding quick” Q14

• 1676 Danish astronomer Ole Roemer used eclipses of Io, moon of Jupiter, to measure speed of light Q14 & ff

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Readings (Speed of Light cont’d)

• Motion in orbit regular, like a clock (here, Io)• “Late” eclipse in Earth position 2 due to light

traveling across diameter of earth’s orbit• Estimated speed at 140,000 mi/sec

o 2 A.U., ~1,000 sec, then A.U. estimate = 70 million miles• With modern A.U. value, get 186,000 mi/sec

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Readings (Speed of Light cont’d)• After Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity (1905),

speed of light is maximum velocity for any objecto Light year – distance light travels in a yearo Light from distant star started out earlier – looking at

distant stars is looking back in time.• Example: Light reaching us now from a star 6 light years away

started 6 years ago• Also speed of light = c in E = mc2

• Einstein’s 1915 General Theory of Relativity said c can be exceeded in an expanding Universe, so some stars from Big Bang are far enough away that their light cannot get back to uso We will never see them (beyond our “event horizon”)

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 41

Reading #3

Euclid (Pp 74 – 79), book Elements Q10

Proof in mathematics and geometry

• Postulate #4: all right angles (90º) are equal

• Common notion #1: things equal to the same thing are equal. If a = c and b = c then a = b

• Common notion #3: if equals are subtracted from equals then the remainders are equal. If a = b then a – c = b – c.

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(Skipped on 2/5)Reading (Euclid’s Elements)

• Propositions: proven

• Proposition 13:A straight lineconsists of tworight angles(180º): CBE + EBD = 180º

• Next, Proposition 15.

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 43

Reading (Euclid’s Elements)

• Proposition 15: Iftwo straight linescut each other,the vertical anglesare equal (i.e. AEC = DEB)

• Proof on next slide, relies upon earlier Postulate #4, Common Notions #1 & #3, and Proposition #13.

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Reading (Euclid’s Elements)

AEC + CEB = 180º Q10(AEB is a straight line)

DEB + CEB = 180º(DEC is a straight line)

AEC + CEB = DEB + CEB(Things equal to the same thing are equal)

AEC = DEB (subtract CEB from each,equals subtracted from equals are equal)

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 45

Reading (Euclid’s Elements)

• Proposition 47:PythagoreanTheorem

• For a right triangle (has one right angle),a2 + b2 = c2

o Example: 3, 4, 5 triangle, 32 + 42 = 9 + 16 = 2552 = 25, so 32 + 42 = 52

• Formula known to Egyptians, maybe earlier, but proven by Pythagoras

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 46

Reading (Euclid’s Elements)• Mathematics

o start with assumptionso draw unarguable conclusions from assumptionso assumptions can be wrong – spherical geometry

• on a sphere, angles of a triangle add up to less than 360º

• Physical science can be put on this basis (axiomatic)o Assumptions and results can be overturned with

new experiments

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From the Lab Manual• Measurements have errors

o Errors may make similar things appear differento May make different things appear similaro Should always analyze the effects of errorso Errors are a complex topic

• A degree of compatibility, lower if centers far apart compared to error,

o Here, use a simpler model• Compatible or not, yes or no (but wiggle room)

o Here, find errors by repeating measurements• Error = (highest value – lowest value) / 2

dte

xx

2/

2

1

2

1

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Errors (cont’d)

• Best guess about real value: the averageo Record as average ± error

• The Null Hypothesiso If two measurements agree within their errors

of measurement:• No basis for claiming that they are different• Therefore, justified in assuming they are equal

o Often a challenge to improve the technique and reduce the error of measurement

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Errors (cont’d)o Do errors overlap?o Compare (sum of errors – add them) to

(difference between the averages – subtract them).

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 5050

Errors: example

• John makes four measurements of the classroom clock: 10.42, 9.85, 10.12 and 9.68 sec.

• Best guess (also in exact theory) = average• Error (simplified) = (highest – lowest) / 2• John’s average = (10.42 + 9.85 + 10.12 + 9.68) / 4

= 40.07 / 4 = 10.02• John’s error (simplified) = (10.42 – 9.68) / 2 =

0.74 / 2 = 0.37• John’s result = average ± error = 10.02 ± 0.37

o “±” is read “plus or minus”

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Errors: example (cont’d)

• Suppose Helen’s result is 9.93 ± 0.45• Are John’s and Helen’s results the same, or

different? That is, is there overlap, or not?• If (sum of errors) > (difference between

averages), then overlap and measurements are equal within errors

• If sum < 3 × difference, incompatible• In between, gray area

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Errors: example (cont’d)

• Sum of errors: 0.37 + 0.45 = 0.82

• Difference of averages: 10.02 – 9.93 = 0.09

• Since 0.82 is greater than 0.09, their measurements are compatible. Even though their results are not the same number, they are compatible, taking the errors into account.

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Errors

• Several times in Lab 3, you have to compare several averages, each with its own error.o Parts A and F

• Simplified method: pick the highest and lowest averages, and the two largest error values

• (sum of errors) < (difference in averages) ?

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Lab 3 Part 1• Timing with SPER stop

watcho Push “MODE” switch until

top row of dots shows, not just one

o Then red START/STOP startso The second push stopso LAP/RESET zeroes time, to

start overo Times in seconds (bigger) and

hundredths (smaller), e.g. 4.26 seconds. Far left is hours.

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Lab 3 Part 1 (cont’d)

• In any group, four people max to use stopwatch Vs classroom clocko “Picket fence problem”: 10 stakes 1’ apart – length?o 11 ticks to measure 10 seconds – count from zero

• Track:o Must rest firmly on blocks to keep angle the sameo Use clay to prop it up side-to-sideo Time the center of the ballo Do not push ball to start, do not stop it before center

crosses mark

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 5656

Lab 3 Part 1 (cont’d)

• Do A through F, skip G & H, and Part 2o F is Analysis, do at homeo Point of experiment is Part F. If the divided

time are equal, then your results support distance (s) – time (t) relationship for constant acceleration (a): s = ½ a t2

• First shown by Galileo• If you want an explanation of how this works out

mathematically, see the (optional) Theory section in Manual

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 57

Lab 3 Part 1 Calculations

Calculations on the times to roll down the track(from the Lab Manual):

1. First, average the times and find the error for each distance by itself (e.g. the four times for A0 – B1 by itself) in Part Eo Do not find the average and error for things you do not

think are equal (e.g. we do not expect A0 – B1 and A0 – C4 to be equal – the second distance is longer)

2. After #1, then divide the averaged times according to part F in the lab manualo Do not divide the errors

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2/4/08 Atoms and Stars, Class 4 58

Lab 3 Pt 1 Calculations (cont’d)Calculations on the times to roll down the track:3. Then (the core): are the divided times equal,

within the errors? (also from Part F)A. Find the highest and lowest divided averages from #2

and subtract them (= DIFF)B. Find the two highest averages errors from 1 and add

them (= ERROR)C. Are the divided times equal, within the errors?

i. If ERROR > DIFF then results are compatible and your results support s = ½at2 with constant acceleration a

ii. If DIFF > 3 ERROR, not compatible, do not support …iii. In between? “Gray area”


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