From the graphs, I can conclude that the depression of the cantilever beam is not affected by the change of weight. This is further proved by the gradients of the graphs because they are almost equal, with only a slight difference of 0.1. This may be due to errors made while carrying out the experiment. Evaluation: Limitations of the experiment: The time allocated for the experiment was not enough for repeating the experiment to get more readings.
Weaknesses of the experiment: The rulers used were not calibrated properly. The rulers were bent; hence it will affect the length of depression. Possible sources of error: The possible errors that were made were parallax errors when taking the readings. Possible improvements to the experiment: More time should be allocated for the experiment so that the experiment could be repeated to get more accurate results. Proper Calibrated Meter Rulers should be used.Meter Rulers which are straight and not bent should be used.
An investigation into the relationship between the decomposition rate and the mass of the gum The aim of the experiment is to find the relationship between the rate of decomposition (chewing) and the mass of the chewing gum. This would be done by chewing the same type of (non-sugar free) gum for different times, t, and then weighing the mass, m, of the gum using the electronic balance.Chewing the gum for different times, would result in different amounts of sugar lost by the gum (sugar is taken into account since the amount of sugar as an ingredient is the most in the gum).
The loss of sugar would decrease the mass, of the gum, which helps us predict that the faster the rate of decomposition (chewing process) the more amount of sugar will lose and therefore the mass of the gum would decrease more and more.In this lab the manipulated variable would be the decomposition (chewing) rate. This would be determined by chewing the gum for different amounts of time. The responding variable would be the mass of the gum. This would be determined by measuring the initial and the final mass and then they would be compared to find out the change or difference. The controlling variables include (1) the same apparatus such as the electronic balance and the stop watch (2) amount of time to chew for each trial (3) size and shape of the gum (4) initial mass of the gumTo control the variables, the apparatus such as the electronic balance and the stop watch used should be the same every time. The amount of time to chew for each trial should be increased by 60 seconds each time.
A stopwatch could be helpful in this case since it would give an accurate time. The size of each gum should be similar. This can be controlled by measuring the length of it with a ruler or make sure that it comes out form the same packet as all the other gums did. If the gum gets deformed, before chewing don’t use it. The initial mass of the gum could be measured by the electronic balance.The materials that would be required for the experiment is 1 – stopwatch, 4 chewing gum pieces of Wrigley’s Excel (Non-sugar free) 1 – electronic balance 1 – person to chew the gum Procedure: Obtain all the materials. Using an electronic balance, measure the initial mass of the gum with the wrapper.
Make sure the gum is not deformed and keep the wrapper. Using a stopwatch, chew the gum for exactly one minute. Measure the mass of the gum with the wrapper on. Record measurements and repeat steps 2 – 4 by adding 1 minute each time. Do this until the gum is chewed for 5 minutes. Repeat to confirm results.
Clean up.