# Physics - Galileo's Slope Experiment

> Source: https://ollybritton.com/notes/a-level/physics/topics/galileos-slope-experiment/ · Updated: 2020-09-17 · Tags: physics, school, year-1

##### What is kinematics??
Analysing the motion of an object (without caring about what causes the motion).

##### Why would $10.1 \pm 0.5ms^{-2}$ be an acceptable value for $g$??
Because the actual value of $g$ is $9.81ms^{-2}$, so the result is within the range of uncertainty.

##### What did Galileo predict about the motion of a falling object??
That its acceleration is uniform.

##### What is the equation for the velocity of a falling object??
$$
v = at
$$

##### What's another way of writing $v = at$??
$$
v \propto t
$$

##### What were the two problems Galileo's encountered with the slope experiment??
* He didn't have an accurate stopwatch
* No way to measure instantaneous velocity, only average velocity.

##### Why was not having an accurate stopwatch a difficulty for Galileo??
Because the object would fall too quickly, there would be too much error in the results.

##### What was Galileo's solution to not having an accurate stopwatch??
Rolling the object down a slope instead of a having a straight drop.

##### Why was not knowing the average velocity enough in the slope experiment??
Galileo needs to know the instantaneous velocity to work out how the acceleration changes.

##### What was Galileo's solution to not knowing the instantaneous velocity??
* By showing $s \propto t^2$ instead.

##### Why is $s \propto t^2$ the same as showing $v \propto t$??
* $v = at$*
* $s = vt$
* $s = (at)t$
* $s = at^2$
* $s \propto t^2$

##### What did Galileo measure in his experiment??
The time taken to reach multiple points on the slope.

##### Proving acceleration is uniform is the same as what observation made about a distance time graph??
The gradient is constant.

##### Which famous experiment determined the acceleration of free fall by rolling objects down an inclined plane??
Galileo's Slope Experiment.

---
Olly Britton — https://ollybritton.com. Machine-readable index: https://ollybritton.com/llms.txt