Acceleration and Force

In the following lab, my group and I conducted experiments with an accelerometer, which tracked acceleration, and force. The following are discussion questions meant to generate a collaborate learning experience.

How do the x, y, and z accelleration vary over time? Why?
     They accelerate because of your arm movements while running, and the slow to fast diffrences you encounter by picking up and moving your feet rapidly.

What happens to force over time?
     It goes up and down, peaking and dropping suddenly, because of the change in force as you run.

This shows my running results.

Explain the relationship between force and accuracy in your data.
     Force and the z accuracy seem close, the x accuracy is a bit lower then z, and y appears to b the most unchanging, it has the milder results.

These are Phillips results.

Compare results.
     Phillips results, the second set, his results are more jagged because he ran faster, where as my results were smaller.

The next section is our results from hopping, and after, skipping.

How do the x,y, and z acceleration vary over time?
     Because of the change in motion, the data jumps around. The graphs reflect the motion gather by the accelerometer.

What happens to force over time?
     It too mirrored the motion, graphing the power.

These are the hopping results.

Explain the relationship between force and accuracy.
    They are similar, because when the accelerometer jerks and tracks acceleration, it also tracks the force of movement.

Compare and contrast.
      Skipping was much smoother, due to no abrupt motions. Hopping shifted suddenly, up-down-up-down.

These are the skipping results.

                                                                       

In conclusion, it was a successful experiment. The class learned how to use an accelerometer, and we all learned a bit more about force and acceleration.

Graphing Your Motion Lab

The following was a test on velocity, and speed, using motion sensors.


For the next image, we needed to walk slowly away from the sensor to graph our progress. After, we walked away quickly from the sensor. The top three ending points are from the latter experiment.

 The bottom three lines are shallower because the movements weren't as abrupt, where as the higher lines went higher, faster.

 For this image, we had tried to match the staggered line. As you can see, we had some issues with the final seconds, causing spikes in our data.

When we attempted to match the line, we were to move close to the sensor, stop, then slowly move back in time with the image.

For this image, we needed to slowly walk backwards. This time, we were graphing velocity.

 In this example, we walked backwards swiftly while graphing velocity.

 This was a futile attempt the line while measuring velocity. Our attempt was at first to jump, then to jerk backwards, but we determined that the sensors were extremely sensitive, and we needed to hold a continuous pace of movement.

Moving Man

DISTANCE FROM Walking Man (reference point) to….	The House	The Wall	The tree
	8	10 , -10	-8

DISPLACEMENT FROM Walking Man (reference point) to….	The House	The Wall	The tree
	8 Meters	10, -10 meters	-8 Meters

Distance represents how far away the object started, to where it ended after movement. Distance is how far an object traveled.



An object speed is how fast the object is moving at a given time, where as an objects velocity measures an objects speed, and direction.

	SPEED	TIME	DISTANCE COVERED
TRIAL #1	1 meter/sec (slower)	2 seconds	2 meters
TRIAL #2	4 meter/sec (faster)	2 seconds	8 meters

1. In both of the above trials you gave the man 2 seconds to run. At what velocity did he cover more distance?
Trial 2, because hsi velocity was higher.

2. Speed is calculated by comparing (dividing) the distance with the time.  Divide the distance by the time for each trial above. Write the speeds below
TRIAL #1 1 meters divided by 2sec = .5m/sec

TRIAL#2 4meters divided by  2sec = 2m/sec


Moving slowly.

 Moving quickly.

 Standing still.

 Moving and increasing speed.

 Increasing, then decreasing speed.

1) EXPLAIN the difference in motion represented by a straight line and a curving line on a
“distance vs. time” in terms of constant or changing speed.
A straight line implies that the targets position is not changing. A curved line represents the targets moving at a quicker pace.



2) Changing speed is called “acceleration” (speeding up) or deceleration (slowing down).
Describe the shape of an acceleration line on a Distance vs. Time graph of acceleration.
Acceleration slopes upwards, where a deceleration slopes downwards.

3) EXPLAIN the difference between the motion represented by a flat line and a sloping straight
line in a “distance vs. time” graph.
A flat line means no movement, and a sloped line means the object is moving.



4) If the slope of a line on a “distance vs. time” graph is steep. What is different about the
motion then when it is not steep?
When it is not steep, it means the object is moving slowly.

5) Look at the graph below and answer the following questions.
A) CALCULATE the average speed/velocity between point B & Point C by finding the slope of
the line between the 6th and 15th seconds (show work below)
10m in 8secs         10m divided by 8 sec = 1.25 mps


B) Why is the line sloping upward to the right between the 2nd & 3rd second, but downward to
the right between 6th and the 15th seconds?
It shows acceleration and deceleration.

Women's Brain Reflection

WOMEN'S BRAINS

by Stephen J. Gould in "The Panda's Thumb"   

 1980 (pp 152-159)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What is the general point that Gould is presenting?

Gould is presenting that even though men, on average, have a larger brain size, women are quickly climbing the ladder as the use of force is dying out. He is trying to show both sides of the story, and encourage the audience to withdraw from bias.

2. What is the general evidence on which that conclusion is based?

They retrieved the data from several studies, including tests on brain size, head size, and multiple opinions.

3. What is the gender of all the researchers producing those data and conclusions?

They are all men, except for one school teacher by the name of Maria.

4. What weaknesses or problems with those data and their interpretation does Gould point out?

They were biased, as they were men, and they didn’t take into account that women are shorter, and their heads are smaller.

5. a) Name the one woman anthropologist mentioned who studied the subject of this essay. b) What did she find after proper correction of Broca's data? c) What were her conclusions from that finding?

a) Maria Montessori b)  She analyzed how no matter what gender, the people with larger brains were smarter.  c) Women, she concluded, were intellectually superior, but men had prevailed heretofore by dint of physical force.

6. What conclusion does Gould reach about the central issue?

a) He had thought the whole ordeal was meaningless, and a waste of time.

7. Make a general statement about the role of bias and assumptions in the collecting, processing, and interpretation of data in scientific studies.

Everyone has a bias for something or another, the matter is not eliminating it, but minimizing it. It plays a role by influencing a persons thoughts in one way or another.

8. What other kinds of bias can you think of that might influence observations and interpretations in science?

The kind that per sways you depending on how many people agree with you such as Race, and Religion.

9. Describe your initial feelings (about the subject, the author, etc.) after reading the first 4 pages.

I was sort of mad at the author for dismaying the women about there smaller head sizes, but relaxed when he took into account -all- of the variables.

10. Describe your feeling after finishing the entire article

I was dismayed, I was hoping for a final answer, but in the end I agreed with the authors point of view; it was a meaningless conclusion.