For procedures, see your mechanical laboratory manual.

Title: Fletcher's Trolley


Aim

1. To show that a force causes a "frictionless" mass to accelerate, the acceleration being proportional to the force.
2. To compare experimental and theoretical values of forces required to accelerate a certain mass at different values of acceleration
3. To determine the values of the acceleration due to gravity 'g'

Theory

A simple experimental method of confirming that the acceleration of a body is proportional to the accelerating force makes use of a piece of equipment known as Fletcher's trolley.

Fletcher’s trolley is the classical experiment apparatus for investigating linear translational motions. The trolley has a ball bearing, his axles are spring-mounted and completely immersed in order to prevent being overloaded. The wheels are designed in such a way that the trolley centers itself on the track and friction at the wheel flanks is avoided.

Applications

1. Measurement of velocity and acceleration
2. Experiments on Moments of Momentum and Angular Acceleration
3. Rolling Disc and Galileo rolling ball experiments
4. Wide range of experiments involving the impact of trolleys

References

1. General Engineering Science in SI Units by G. W. Marr