PHYS 2425 – Engineering Physics I

Project #1 – Measuring the Coefficient of Friction

 

Premise

      Congratulations.  As a brand new product development engineer for Mattel toys you have been given the task of measuring the effective coefficient of friction for a new Hot Wheels™ car.  You will be provided with a few lengths of track, a car, masking tape and meter sticks to keep the track from bouncing around too much, and a clamp and ring stand with which to launch the car.

 

Task

      You will need to design a procedure to measure the “effective” coefficient of kinetic friction for the car.  You may use any of the lab equipment that you have used up to this point in the semester to carry out the measurement.  You will design your own procedure for making the measurement and you must obtain approval of the instructor for the procedure prior to carrying it out. You may not alter the car to make the measurement.  If you damage any of the equipment, you will incur a penalty on the grade for the assignment.  There will be a sequence of deadlines and you must meet all deadlines to receive full credit.

 

Deadlines

1.  Beginning of class February 21, 2007 -  Approval of Procedure

      Note that you may receive approval during office hours prior to class

2.  Lab period February 21, 2007 - Make all measurements.  If you do not make all measurements during this lab period, you will need to come into make-up lab to finish them

3.  February 28, 2007 – Report is due

4.  March 12, 2007  - If the initial report was unacceptable, rewrite is due.

 

Report

      You will submit an individual formal report for this activity.  You may (but don’t have to) work together as a group on data acquisition but you may not write the report together as a group.  Even if you work together as a group, each individual student must make his/her own data run.  The specifications for the report are given in an additional handout.

 

Grade

      The grade for this project will be based on the lab report.  The lab report will be graded as acceptable or unacceptable.  If an acceptable report is turned in on time and no penalties are incurred, the report will receive a grade of 40/40.  If penalties are occurred the grade will be (40 – penalties)/40

 

Penalties

Not receiving approval of procedure prior to data acquisition - 5 points

Turning in report 1 -2 days late – 5 points

Turning in report more than 2 days late – 10 points

Damaging equipment – 10 points

Submitting rewrite late – 10 points