Objective: Measurement of instantaneous velocity as a function of distance covered
In the case of uniform acceleration, the instantaneous velocity increases as the distance covered becomes greater. The constant of proportionality between the square of the velocity and the distance covered can be used to calculate the acceleration. This will be investigated in an experiment involving a carriage rolling along a track. In order to measure the instantaneous velocity, a flag of known width attached to the wagon breaks the beam of a photoelectric sensor. The time for which the beam is broken is then measured by means of a digital counter.