Here is a sample of a good Lab #2. Of course, your time limit of a bit less than 1 hour means you must be efficient.
Purpose – The acceleration of gravity is estimated by means of a simple experiment in which the time of fall of a ball dropped from rest is measured.
Procedure – A tennis ball is dropped from rest at each of 5 heights. A stop watch is used to record the time of fall starting at each height. Several measurements of time by each of four independent observers are averaged at each height. By plotting the height as a function of the square of the time of fall and fitting a best-fit straight line through the data points, the acceleration due to gravity was found.
Analysis – The time-of-fall data were difficult to take because of the short reaction times needed for each measurement. A ball released from rest takes less than ½ second to fall 1.0 meter. The timing process involved counting out beats such that the time between beats matches the time of fall. The time between beats was measured to within a range of plus or minus 0.1 second of the average value.
Assuming that the acceleration is constant, the data should satisfy the equation
d
= (1/2)gt2
The slope of a graph of d as a function of t2 is therefore (1/2)g. Upper and lower limits to the slope are indicated by the two dashed-line fits in the graph. These two lines represent slopes of 3.8 and 4.6 m/s2, with a best fit at 4.3 m/s2
Show brief calculations here
Conclusions - A plot of height-of-fall versus the square of time shows that a straight line does indeed represent the data. Calculation of the slope, which is (1/2)g, gives a value for g of 8.6 m/s2. However, the range of estimated slopes, shown in the graph as dashed lines implies that the slope can only be realistically estimated to within about 8%. The use of a beat device, such as a metronome would make the time intervals measurable to greater precision.