Objects at Rest Remain at Rest

Physicist Danysha Miller
Group Members:
Physicist Terrell Merrill
Physicist Victoria Brown
4-11-07
11-2

Objective: The objective of this experiment is to find out if objects at rest remain at rest unless acted upon by external forces.

Hypothesis: I think that if we pull the ramp out from underneath the cart, the cart will slide backwards.

Materials:
1 wooden cart
12" ruler
Halls Cart

Procedure:
1. Set the wooden ramp on a table with about 12" of the ramp extending over the edge of the tables.
2. Place the Hall's cart pm, the art of the ramp that is over the table.
3. Standing to one side, quickly jerk the ramp out from underneath the Hall's cart. Record the readings.
4. Repeat steps 1-7 four times.

Data:
Trial 1= The Hall's cart fell back just a little.
Trial 2= The Hall's cart stayed in the same position.
Trial 3= The Hall's cart moved a little when jerked.
Trial 4= The Hall's cart moved forward.

Graphs/ Pictures






Conclusion: In conclusion when the cart was removed the four different times, they each had a different reaction. So on that note my hypothesis was correct, the first trial the Hall's cart moved backwards. As a result this experiment does not follows Newton's first law for body at rest.