Warren Wilson Physics. Fancart and acceleration.

A fan (not shown) is mounted on a low-friction cart. The thrust of the fan exerts a force directed towards the right as shown by the arrow. Press “play” to run the animation and plot position, velocity, and acceleration. Select 2 battery or 4 battery power.

Acceleration graph below:

Questions:

1. Describe the meaning of the distance vs. time graph. Why is it curved?

2. Describe the meaning of the velocity vs. time graph. How is the velocity changing?

3. Give a mathematical formula for the velocity, v, as a function of t and parameters v₀ and acceleration, a.

4. Measure the acceleration for 2 battery cart and 4 battery cart and compare with that predicted by inertial physics.

End of mid-week assignment. Please e-mail discussions to dcollins@warren-wilson.edu

Physlets written by Wolgang Christian and Mario Belloni of Davidson College.  Javascript physics module by Donald Collins of Warren Wilson College.