Constant Velocity Vs. Constant Acceleration After Lab Blog Post

1) What was the purpose of this lab?
     I think that the purpose of this lab was to give us a visual explanation of how constant velocity and acceleration work, and also how they differ. Through the marble going down the flat table, we were able to see the consistency in constant velocity, and how the speed stays the exact same throughout the entire experiment. However, when the table was slanted, we saw how constant acceleration works, and how the marble consistently gained more and more speed. I think that Mrs. Lawrence's intent in giving us this lab was to obviously clarify our understanding of the concepts, but also show how constant acceleration and velocity can be applied to real life.

2) The difference between constant velocity and acceleration:
    Constant velocity occurs when something is going at a constant rate without changing directions. However, constant acceleration is when something is constantly gaining or decreasing speed, subsequently meaning a changing velocity.

3) What did you do in this lab?
    I actually did not do this lab because I was not in class. However, from the descriptions given to me, and the brief demonstration, I am able to come up with an answer that somewhat shows my comprehension of the lab process. The idea was that we were instructed to roll a marble down a table with the beat of a metronome and mark every second while it rolled. For the first part, constant velocity occurred, as the marks were for the most part evenly spaced. This demonstrated how constant velocity works and proved its consistency. For the second part, we slanted the table causing the marble to go slightly downhill as it rolled down. This showed constant acceleration because the marble consistently moved faster and faster.

4) What do the two have in common?
     From this lab, I realized that they both have in common the facts that they both deal with speed and consistency. Although they have differences (acceleration deals with speeding up and slowing down) they are both moving at constantly, even though in different ways.

5) Formulas:
    constant velocity=distance/time
    constant acceleration=change in distance/change in time

6) Graph comparison:
     The graphs slightly differed as the constant velocity line was straight where as the constant acceleration line was curved. The graphs served as recourses to visually see our data and better understand it. It also supported our data by giving us an organized output of our results. On both graphs, distance was represented in the y-axis, and time on the x-axis. The constant velocity data resulted in a perfect line as time increased, distance did as well. For acceleration, the x-axis represented time squared, and the graph differed as it created a curve, showing how distance increased rapidly.

7) Graph applied to lab:
     What I found very interesting about this lab was how we were able to apply our distance=1/2(acceleration x time squared) equation and transform it into an equation of a line. To an extent, it blew my mind a bit how math and science can relate so simply. This really helped me support my data as well as understand the concepts. It also made it easier to predict the velocity and acceleration in the future.

8) 3 most important things we learned:
    I think that the most important things we learned were that 1) constant acceleration always occurs in decreasing and increasing speed, 2) how to work with graphs that pertain to distance and time, and 3) how constant velocity can be applied to daily scenarios.