Weights Tied to Fishing Line at Prescribed Intervals

 

Code Number: 1C20.20

Demo Title: Free-Fall - Time Intervals

Condition:  Fair

Principle: Acceleration Due to Gravity

Area of Study: Mechanics

Equipment: 

Washers or Weights Tied to Fishing Line at Prescribed Intervals.

Procedure:

Washers or lead weights are tied to a fishing line at intervals of 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, etc.  Pull the line over a high pulley until all the washers are off the ground.  When released the sound of the washers hitting the ground will occur at equal intervals.

References:

  • Jochen Kuhn, Patrik Vogt, and Florian Theilmann, "Going nuts: Measuring Free-Fall Acceleration by Analyzing the Sound of Falling Metal Pieces", TPT, Vol. 54, #3, Mar. 2016, p. 182. 
  • Oliver Schwarz, Patrik Vogt, and Jochen Kuhn, "Acoustic Measurements of Bouncing Balls and the Determination of Gravitational Acceleration", TPT, Vol. 51, #5, May 2013, p. 312.
  • J. A. White, A. Medina, F. L. Roman, and S. Velasco, "A Measurement of g Listening to Falling Balls", TPT, Vol. 45, #3, Mar. 2007, p. 175.
  • Tom Callaway and James Dennis, "Listening to Free Fall with the MacRecorder", TPT, Vol. 32, #2, Feb. 1994, p. 88.
  • David L.D. Green and David T. Hartney, "Newton's Truck: Determining Mass and Finding 'g' by Pushing a Truck Across a Parking Lot", TPT, Vol. 26, #7, Oct. 1988, p. 448.
  • R.D. Edge, "String and Sticky Tape Experiments", TPT, Vol. 16, #4, Apr. 1978, p. 233, also A Potpourri of Physics Teaching Ideas - Mechanics, p. 80.
  • Wolfgang Rueckner and Paul Titcomb, "An Accurate Determination of the Acceleration of Gravity for Lecture Hall Demonstration", AJP, Vol. 55, #4, Apr. 1987, p. 324.
  • J. Fort, "Energy Conservation Can Predict Intervals of Time", Physics Education, Vol. 40, #4, July 2005, p. 321.
  • Richard Berg, "Improvement on the Multiple Ball Drop Demonstration", PIRA Newsletter, Vol. 8, #2, Sept/Oct. 1993, p. 12.
  • "M-094. Sinkers on Pan", DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook.
  • G. D. Freier and F. J. Anderson, "Mb-12. Time Intervals of Fall", A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.
  • Meiners, "M-84. Free Failing Bodies", Physics Demonstration Experiments, p. 40.
  • R. D. Edge, "Experiment 1.22 - Acceleration Due to G", String & Sticky Tape Experiments, p. 1.22.
  • Charles Taylor, 1.21-1.22:The Art and Science of Lecture Demonstration, p. 46.
  • Borislaw Bilash II and David Maiullo, "Falling Together", A Demo a Day: A Year of Physics Demonstrations, p. 29 - 30.
  • Borislaw Bilash II, “Falling Down“, A Demo A Day – A Year of Physical Science Demonstrations, p. 214.