The experiment is about the Atwood\'s Machine, when two different masses m 1 and

Question

The experiment is about the Atwood's Machine, when two different masses m1 and m2 are attached to hangers. m2 is larger than m1. The photogate will measure the acceleration and the rate at which the pulley rotates and it will then calculate how fast the masses are moving of the Atwood's Machine. My percent error between the theoretical and experimental acceleration is -21.3%. What can I say about that?

This are the atheo values0.445, 0.426, 0.408, 0.392, 0.377 and the aexp are 0.350, 0.341, 0.325, 0.317 and 0.283.

Explanation / Answer

The error is not negative. You need to subtract experimental value from the theoretical value and not vice versa. First add the data of each and divide by 5 to get the average theoretical and experimental value. We get,

TH = 2.048

EX = 1.616

% error = ((TH - EX)/TH ) x 100% = (2.048 - 1.616)/2.048 x 100% = 21.1%

This error value indicates that there is a difference between the theoretical value of the acceleration and the value calculated during the experiment. 21% is a very big variation which clearly indicates that there were errors in experiment conduction.

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