Why Does Increasing Weight Decrease Acceleration in a Pulley System?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the relationship between weight and acceleration in a pulley system, specifically with a constant hanger mass of 0.125 kg. The experimental data shows that as the mass of the puck increases, the observed acceleration decreases, while the theoretical acceleration remains higher. This indicates that the force of friction decreases with increasing mass, leading to a misunderstanding of the relationship between weight and frictional force in this context. The key takeaway is that increased weight does not necessarily correlate with increased acceleration due to the influence of friction.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Newton's laws of motion
  • Basic principles of pulley systems
  • Knowledge of frictional forces and their calculations
  • Familiarity with experimental data analysis
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the effects of mass on acceleration in pulley systems using Newton's second law
  • Explore the concept of kinetic and static friction in detail
  • Learn about the role of massless strings and pulleys in physics experiments
  • Investigate the mathematical modeling of friction in mechanical systems
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Physics students, educators, and anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of pulley systems and the factors affecting acceleration and friction.

tnutty
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This is not a homework question. I though I post this here because more members here a helping us, rather than the general physics question. Please don't move this:
This post might be long to read, but is easy. I thank you if you take the time to read it.

So I am confused on why this is. I was done with my lab and got the result. Now I am writing a lab report. I have the following data :

With constant hanger mass of 0.125kg, the accelerations are :

Trial # ---- acceleration of experiment ---- acceleration of frictionless
1 ------ 2.5200 ------ 4.77
2 ------ 1.4440 ------ 3.99
3 ------ 0.7200 ------ 3.40
4 ------ 0.1460 ------ 3.01
5 ------ 0.0536 ------ 2.68

This is a pulley system. The hanger is the one hanging at the end of the table. A puck is connected with a "massless" string which runs through a "massless" pulley, which connects to a hanger. So in this trials the hanger's mass is constant and the pucks mass is increases with trial. Although it is not shown.

I hope you understand what I said thus far. So from the data you can see that the force
of friction is decreasing as the mass increases. Just by subtracting the acceleration of experiment by the below trial shows that the difference in the acceleration is decreasing, thus the force of friction is also decreasing. The acceleration of frictionless is the theoretical acceleration.

Why is it the in a as a object weight increases, it experiences less force of friction?
 
Last edited:
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I think I might have misinterpreted the info.
 

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