PASCO ME-9595 Car Sail - Manual (Page 9)

Car Sail Model No. ME-9595
8 ®
8. Click the Start button in DataStudio; then give the car a push down
the incline. This is necessary to be certain that the car reaches its
terminal velocity.
9. Catch the car before it reaches the end of the track; then click the
Stop button in DataStudio.
10. Repeat step 7-9 three times.
11. Repeat steps 7-9 for the other two sails.
Analysis
1. For each of the sails, determine the average terminal velocity.
2. Produce a graph of terminal velocity vs. sail surface area. The
student may need to create several other sails with different surface
areas to establish the relationship between terminal velocity and
sail surface area.
3. What does the graph suggest about the relationship between
terminal velocity and sail surface area?
4. Explain why this relationship does or does not follow physical
intuition.