A student drops a piece of metal and a small magnet through a vertical aluminum tube of length 1.5 m1.5\text{ m}1.5 m. They record the time taken for each object to pass through the tube.
The table shows their results:
| Time taken to fall through the aluminum tube (s) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Mean | |
| Magnet | 2.15 | 2.17 | 2.16 | 2.14 | 2.18 | |
| Metal | 0.54 | 0.55 | 0.53 | 0.56 | 0.52 | 0.5400 |
(i) Calculate the mean time that the magnet takes to pass through the aluminum tube.
(ii) The student has made a mistake when recording their results in the table. Identify the mistake and suggest a correction.
(iii) The student claims that their data shows that their experiment is reproducible. Explain whether the student is correct.
(iv) State one reason why the student repeated their experiment 5 times and calculated a mean.
(i) Calculate how many times longer it took the magnet to fall compared to the piece of metal.
(ii) Calculate the mean speed of the metal through the aluminum tube. Write your answer to 2 significant figures. Use the equation: distance travelled=speed×time\text{distance travelled} = \text{speed} \times \text{time}distance travelled=speed×time
Explain why the magnet took longer to fall than the piece of metal. Include ideas about electromagnetic induction in your answer.
A free-body diagram for when the magnet is at a point in the middle of the tube shows an upward magnetic force and a downward weight of equal magnitude. Explain the motion of the magnet at this point.