The purpose of the Fan Cart Lab was to measure the increase and decrease of acceleration produced by the fan cart on a track that had little to no friction. The force that was produced from the fan cart remained constant, even though each test had different accelerations. During each of the tests, we increased the mass of the fan cart to see if there would be a difference in acceleration or force. Meanwhile, all of this was being recorded on the range finders.
Data:
After reviewing the data of the lab, we know that the relationship between mass & acceleration is indirect. We also learned a new equation: force= (mass)(acceleration). Finally, we cam to the conclusion that an object will remain in motion unless an outside force is acting upon it, an example in this lab would be someone catching the cart and pushing it.
Real World Connection:
The connection to the real world with this lab involves my cat, Simba. When he runs around my house, he tends to slide due to the stone floors. The absence of friction makes him slide and smack himself into the side of our walls. The wall and Simba both experience the same amount of force, but the wall is much more massive and experiences no acceleration after the crash, while he lays there stunned.
