Experiment 4: Newton's Second Law — Worked Examples

Two connected masses are $M_1=0.320\,\text{kg}$ and $M_2=0.280\,\text{kg}$. Neglect pulley inertia and friction. Determine the acceleration.

The pulley has mass $m_p=0.080\,\text{kg}$ and can be approximated as a uniform disk. Determine the corrected acceleration.

Using the corrected acceleration $0.613\,\text{m/s}^2$, predict the time required to move $0.800\,\text{m}$ from rest.

Five times for a $0.800\,\text{m}$ travel distance are $1.63$, $1.66$, $1.64$, $1.62$, and $1.65\,\text{s}$. Use the mean time to calculate experimental acceleration.

Compare $a_{exp}=0.595\,\text{m/s}^2$ with the pulley-corrected prediction $a_{th}=0.613\,\text{m/s}^2$.

Using $M_1=0.320\,\text{kg}$, $M_2=0.280\,\text{kg}$, and $a=0.613\,\text{m/s}^2$, determine the tension on each side.

Two configurations have the same total hanging mass $0.600\,\text{kg}$. Case A uses $0.310$ and $0.290\,\text{kg}$; Case B uses $0.340$ and $0.260\,\text{kg}$. Neglect pulley effects and compare accelerations.

A pulley has measured moment of inertia $I=1.20\times10^{-4}\,\text{kg·m}^2$ and radius $r=0.050\,\text{m}$. For $M_1=0.320\,\text{kg}$ and $M_2=0.280\,\text{kg}$, determine acceleration without assuming a disk shape.