Dover+Lab+14+-+Ballistic+Pendulum+Lab

Procedure
Level the block into which the bullet is to be fired so that it lines up with the box labeled on the Ballistic Pendulum. Pull back the lever on the laucher so that the first notch is visible. Wait until the block is not swinging, set the angle measuring arm on the right side of the black line, at 0 degrees. Fire. Record the maximum angle reached by the pendulum. Repeat multiple times for accuracy. Move the block and the angle measuring arm out of the firing line. Place carbon paper down ontop of a piece of paper around where you think that the ball will land. Pull the lever back until the first notch is visible. Fire. Move the carbon paper to a location until the bullet lands sucessfully on the paper multiple times. Record the average distance in the x direction from the pendulum that the ball landed. Measure the height off of the floor the bullet is fired from. Calculate the velocity through the following method.

Data and Analysis
trial 1 - 33 degrees trial 2 - 34.5 degrees trial 3 - 34 degrees average angle = 33.8333 degrees d x = 2.63 m h = .037 m m block = 79.5 g m bullet = 7.6 g d y = .87 m

(2gh)^(1/2) * (m block + m bullet) / (m bullet) = v bullet (2 * 9.8 * .37)^(1/2) * (.0795 + .0076) / (.0076) = v bullet = 9.792 m/s

d y = .5at^2 t = (2 * (d y)/ g) v = (d x) / t

t = .421 sec v = 6.24 m/s

Percent Error = 36.27%