September 8th 2014: Non-constant acceleration problem

Purpose: Solve the elephant problem, given in class, numerically, as well, as analytically.

We did not use any apparatus, the only equipment used was Microsoft Excel, for us to compute the data information.

The class solved this problem with the professor, as a whole group. We followed the steps of the professor to reach to an answer analytically, then we solved the problem numerically by using Microsoft Excel to perform the calculations. This allowed us to know at what time and what distance the elephant reached a complete stop.

This table shows the time interval of 1 second between each distance taken.

This table shows the time interval of 0.1 seconds between each distance taken.

This table shows the time interval of 0.05 seconds between each distance taken.

The problem analytically solved in class.

The time interval and distance that the class decided to use for parameters in Excel.

Summary: We had a problem where an elephant in movement had to stop before it reached a cliff. With the numbers given in the problems, the class as a whole was able to reach to a conclusion analytically. To make sure that our results were accurate, we used Microsoft Excel to perform numerical calculation and see if our results were reasonable.

Questions

1) The results were close to being the same.

2) The time interval would be small enough when the distance was close to being the same, or when the distance became to show up negative. This would mean that the elephant reached a complete stop.