Determination of the Acceleration of Gravity via a Freely Falling Object

Obtaining the Calibration Curve

Enter the distance for each of the following times :

Time		Distance
1/20 = 0.05	s_0,1
2/20 = .10	s_1,2
3/20 = .15	s_2,3
4/20 = .20	s_3,4
5/20 = .25	s_4,5
6/20 = .30	s_5,6
7/20 = .35	s_6,7
8/20 = .40	s_7,8
9/20 = .45	s_8,9
10/20 = .50	s_9,10
11/20 = .55	s_10,11
12/20 = .60	s_11,12
13/20 = .65	s_12,13

Click to do calculations for finding the Acceleration of Gravity.

The complete table with velocities computed :

Time (x)		Distance		Velocity (y)
1/20 = .05	s_0,1		v₁
2/20 = .10	s_1,2		v₂
3/20 = .15	s_2,3		v₃
4/20 = .20	s_3,4		v₄
5/20 = .25	s_4,5		v₅
6/20 = .30	s_5,6		v₆
7/20 = .35	s_6,7		v₇
8/20 = .40	s_7,8		v₈
9/20 = .45	s_8,9		v₉
10/20 = .50	s_9,10		v₁₀
11/20 = .55	s_10,11		v₁₁
12/20 = .60	s_11,12		v₁₂
13/20 = .65	s_12,13		v₁₃

Acceleration of Gravity is the slope of the best straight line fit =

cm/s/s (or cm/s²)

Percent error (using g = 980 cm/s/s) = %

Since the above calculation for the slope has been done by regression analysis, your value may be a bit different. However, if there is a difference of more than 10, your line may not be a good straight line fit. Check that the distances between the line and points above the line are about the same as the distances between the line and points below the line.