Mass-Force Lab

Mass-Force Lab!

In this week's mass-force lab, we had to answer two main questions: 

“How do we measure force in a reliable and repeatable way?"

"What is the relationship between the mass of an object and the force needed to hold it in place?” 

To answer these questions, each table group had to follow a set of steps:

•  First, we had to hang a brass mass from a manual force probe, and then write down the mass of the brass (in g and kg) and how much force it took to support that mass at rest.
• After doing that for 3 or 4 masses, we plotted the information on a graph with the mass on the x-axis and the force on the y-axis.
• Finally, after the graph was finished, we created a best-fit line that goes through the most points on the graph. 

Real World Connection:

• Now that I have to think about force and mass, it is easy to connect it to my daily life. Every single time I swing a baseball bat, I am exerting force on the ball, which here would be the mass. The more force that I exert on the tiny baseball, the farther it is going to fly.