Inclined Plane Experiment Report

For this experiment, the researcher tested the effects of mass (kg) on the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane. The researcher’s hypothesis for this experiment was, “if the mass increases, then the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane will decrease”. The independent variable of this experiment was the mass (in kilograms - kg), and the independent variable had four levels: 0.5 kg, 1.0 kg, 1.5 kg, and 2.0 kg. In this experiment, the dependent variable was the mechanical advantage (of the inclined plane). Due to the nature of this experiment and its levels of the independent variable, there was no control. In addition, there was only one repeated trial in the experiment. However, to ensure the fairness of the experiment, there were

Although this experiment could have improved its validity and reliability (due to the fact that it has no control and only one repeated trial), it does have constants and one independent variable (with many levels) to ensure fairness, as mentioned above. To reiterate, the hypothesis for this experiment was, “if the mass increases, then the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane will decrease”. Overall, this hypothesis was correct, and this can be proven by the data. When the mass was 0.5 kg, then the mechanical advantage was 4.9. Similarly, when the mass was 1.0 kg, then the mechanical advantage was 4.45. When the mass was 1.5 kg, then the mechanical advantage was 4.32. Lastly, when the mass was 2.0 kg, then the mechanical advantage was 4.26. As the mass went from 0.5 kg to 1.0 kg, the mechanical advantage decreased by 0.45, and on the graph, there was an inverse/negative correlation. Likewise, when the mass increased from 1.0 kg to 1.5 kg, the mechanical advantage was reduced by 0.13, and it displayed a negative/inverse correlation on the graph. Furthermore, as the mass increased from 1.5 kg to 2.0 kg, the