Working with Spreadsheets

Introduction
The purpose of this lab was to get familiar with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Speadsheets are an effective way to handle massive amounts of data efficiently, so it is good to know how to manipulate data in order to acheive the results needed.


Calculations
The calculations in this lab were done in Excel. Excel has commands that facilitate the calculations. Instead of doing every calculation by hand or by calculator the calculations are done in Excel. Excel has a language similar to conventional math. + adds, - subtracts, * multiplys, / divides. there are other commands that employ more complex tasks such as taking the average of a data sample. Values can be assigned to cells and then those cells can be used just like any other numbers. For this lab we used the formula f(x)=Asin(Bx+C).

A= 5
B= 3
C= (pi/3)

f(x)=Asin(Bx+C)
f(x)=5sin(3x+(pi/3)).

Here (x) was a list of values ranging from 0.1 to 10 radians (100 total)

This was just to get familiar with the program.

We used Excel to analyze data from graphical analysis of the position of a freely falling object. So our constants had to include the acceleration of gravity, the initial velocity, initial position, and time increment.

g= 9.8(m/s^2)
Vo= 50(m/s)
Xo=1000(m)
t= 0.2(s)

X=Xo+Vo(t)+(1/2)g(t^2)
X=1000(m)+ 50(m/s)(t)+ (1/2)(9.8m/s^2)(t)
X=1000(m)+ 50(m/s)(0.2 s)+ (1/2)(9.8m/s^2)(0.2^2 s)
X=1009.804 (m)

Data

Data for f(x)=Asin(Bx+C)

Data for X=Xo+Vo(t)+(1/2)g(t^2)

Position of free falling object graph. Here the A = gravity,  B = initial velocity,  C = initial position.

A = acceleration of gravity (-4.9*2)= -9.8 (m/s^2)

 B = initial velocity 50 (m/s)

C = initial position 1000 (m)

Formulas for X=Xo+Vo(t)+(1/2)g(t^2)

Conclusions
Excel is an excellent way to analyze massive amounts of data. We would have spent hours calculating all 100 equations but with Excel we did it in a fraction of the time. First we got familar with the concept of assigning values to cells and formulas in Excel with the equation f(x)=Asin(Bx+C) and assigned values for the constants in specific cells, the values of x were 0-10 with increments of 0.1. Then we took a data sample from Graphical Analysis of the Position of a falling object. For this data sample we used X=Xo+Vo(t)+(1/2)g(t^2) to find the position. The constants were g= 9.8(m/s^2), Vo= 50(m/s), Xo=1000(m), and t= 0.2(s). The time was taken in increments of 0.2 seconds from 0-20 seconds. The reults were then put into Graphical analysis to make a plot. The resuts were consistent with the trajectory of an object in free fall.