Lab3 Non- Constant acceleration problem/ Activity
Author: Jesus Gonzalez
Lab Partners: Stephanie, Roya
Lab Date: March 8 2017
Statement/ Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to use calculus and excel in order to find how far the elephant goes before coming to rest. In the lab given to us we are shown an analytical way of doing the lab. It walks you through every step you have to go to in order to come to your answer. The lab also shows us the numerical approach that we can take using excel.
Theory/Intro: The lab shows the math/ calculus used to calculate the distance traveled by the elephant. The Analytical approach for this was already given to us in the beginning of the lab. The purpose of this lab was to be able to get the same calculations in a much more efficient manner using the same formulas inputted into excel.
Summary: If this lab was solved in an analytical approach then Newtons 2nd law would be used to get an acceleration to integrate to find the change in v and then derive to find an equation for v(t). then you would integrate to find the the change in x and derive to find an equation for x(t). After that you would find the time to be able to find how far the elephant i going before coming to rest. The math used (as shown below) gives an answer of x= 248.7m
Data:
Conclusions: even though both approaches gave us the same answers (x= 248.7 and t= 19.7s) we concluded that the numerical approach to this problem was far easier than doing all the work in that analytical approach. Excel let you use the formulas and set them up in a way that made them be used multiple amounts of time in order to create more data.
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