Force, mass and acceleration: the full trolley investigation sim
Tilt a runway until a pushed trolley keeps a steady speed, then measure its acceleration with two light gates, a double card or ticker tape: move slotted masses from the trolley to the hanger to change the force at a constant total mass, add steel bars to change the mass at a constant force, fill the tables from your own readings and find m and F from the gradients of a against F and a against 1/m.
Dynamics · covers the O-Level, IGCSE, GCSE topic
What the sim shows
Model: the hanging masses' weight, W = m g with g = 10 N/kg, speeds up the trolley, its load and the hanging masses together: once friction is balanced by tilting the runway, W = (total mass) × a, so a ∝ F at a constant total mass and a ∝ 1/m at a constant force. Friction is a rolling resistance μ = 0.018 × the normal force (chosen), varying about 2 % from run to run; one small tilt of the runway (its feet 1140 mm apart) balances it, and you find it in step 1. Trolley 1.000 kg, hanger 50 g, slotted masses 50 g, bars 500 g. Idealised: a light string and pulley, thin beams, a ticker that adds no drag.
- The trolley and what it carries: the part to watch
- Runway, screw foot, light gates and stands, data logger, ticker timer, pulley, hanger, slotted masses, steel bars, catch box, table
Use it in your lessons
- Try it here: anyone can unlock 2 figures free, and a free account unlocks up to 5. Runs on a laptop, a Chromebook or a phone; nothing to install.
- Present it and share student links with the teacher plan, from US$5 a month, billed yearly.
- Put it on your own website or LMS for US$9, paid once, or every sim from US$29 a month.
Free guide: 12 practicals as sims, and how to run one in a lesson →
Need a version for your exact set-up? Have one made: US$49 a figure in an order of 5.
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