AP Components Lab

I was surprised to see that there is still some confusion over purpose of labs. Remember that they are parts of the scientific method. Their purpose is to confirm hypotheses. In this case the  first hypothesis was that the parallel component of the force of gravity on the cart was 

Mcart g  cos of the angle between the ramp and direction of gravity. This cos was simply h/L. 

The second hypothesis was that the perpendicular component of the force of gravity was equal to

Mcart g cos of angle between the perpendicular to the ramp and the direction of gravity. Note that this angle is the complement of the first angle and its cos  

= sqrt( 1 -(h/Lsquared)..

the third hypothesis is that acceleration parallel to the ramp = Fparallel/Mcart

The purpose was to confirm these by

1) predicted Fparallel using the equation from above and then measure the force it would take from the hanging weight to balance or cancel the component of gravity pulling the cart down the ramp. In other words did Mcart g h/L = Mhanging g ?  

Obviously, one needed to record the  h, the L, the predicted Fg parallel, and M hanging to accomplish this purpose.

Similarly, predictions and measurements should have been made and recorded for Fg perp and for a parallel.

All this should have been done for each of the three elevations ( angles). All quantities and all calculations should be included in your lab reports as well as purpose and conclusions.  In view of the fact that this somehow may not have been apparent to you despite our review of the a=F/M Lab, I will give 5 points of extra for every correct lab that comes in tomorrow and will not include any penalty on labs coming Tuesday.