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De La Salle UniversityCollege of Education
Science Education Department
PHY 583MEarth and Environmental Science
Experiment # 2
TRANSFORMATION OF MECHANICAL ENERGY
Members: Bayot, Joysol
Lim, Perlita
Uy, Roxanne
Prof: Dr. Cecil Galvez
Class Period: Sat, 8:00 am11:00 am
Date performed: 2/2/13
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I. FSINTRODUCTIONA. BACKGROUND INFORMATION/THEORY AND CONCEPTS
The amount of energy in the universe remains the same. Energy can neither be created
nor destroyed (first law of thermodynamics). When energy is used, it is being
transformed from one form into another form/s (second law of thermodynamics).
There are many forms of energy and they are divided into two major categories. The
first one is the kinetic energy or the energy in motion and can be converted to and from
other forms. The other one is the potential energy, which is the stored energy within a
system or object. This is form can be converted and has the potential to do work.
One of the most common transformations is between the mechanical form of potential
and kinetic energy.
B. OBJECTIVES
This activity aims:
To learn about gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy of a dynamiccart along an inclined plane.
To investigate the transformation of mechanical energy of the cart. To investigate how the gravitational potential energy and the kinetic energy is
affected by increasing the release height of the cart keeping the mass of the cart
constant.
To investigate if the mechanical energy of the dynamic cart along an inclinedplane is constant.
C. HYPOTHESIS
If the cart descends from the top of the inclined plane, then its potential energy is
transformed into kinetic energy.
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II. METHODSTART
SECURE MATERIALS
PREPARE SET-UP
USE SPARK COMPUTER PROGRAM
COLLECT DATA NEEDED FOR THE EXPERIMENT
GET THE ACCELERATION OF THE CART
CALCULATE KINETIC ENERGY
IS THE DATA
COMPLETE
AND N
ACCURATE?
Y
FIX SET UP
MAKE FURTHER STUDIES
END
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III. Materials Used and experimental set-up
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IV. DATAa. OBSERVATIONS in a DATA TABLE or CHART
Table 1.Shows the mass of the dynamic cart, minimum position, maximum position, and distance
covered by the 3 runs of the cart
Table 2. Shows the acceleration, distance covered, sin , height and gravitational potential
energy at the released pointof the 3 runs of the cart
Table 3. Shows the mass of the dynamic cart, final velocity, and kinetic energy at the lowest pointof the3 runs of the cart
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Table 4. Shows the mass of the dynamic cart, height, final velocity, distance covered,
gravitational potential energy at the released point and the kinetic energy of the 3 runs of thecart
b. GRAPHS
Figure 1. Position versus Time of the 3 runs
Figure 2. Minimum and maximum positions of the 3 runs
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Figure 3.Velocity versus Time of the 3 runs
Figure 4. Slope of the first run
Figure 5. Slope of the second run
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Figure 6. Slope of the third run
Figure 7. Slope of the 3 runs
Figure 8. Maximum positions of the 3 runs
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c. CALCULATIONS
c.1 Final Velocity
Vf = Vi + a * t
where:
Vf = final velocityVi = initial velocity
t = change in time
a = acceleration
c.2 Gravitational Potential energy
Ug =mgh
where:m = mass
g = gravityh = heaight/vertical distance
c.3 Kinetic Energy
KE = mv 2
where:
KE= Kinetic energy
m = mass
v = velocity
c.4 Acceleration
a= v
t
where:
v = change in velocityt = change in time
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V. ANALYSISBase on Table 4, the third run of the cart has the greatest kinetic energy at the lowest
point and gravitational potential energy at the released point. This is due to the factthat the ramps height in this run is highest among the 3 runs.
It is also noticeable that as the height increases, the final velocity also increases. But
it is the opposite when it comes to the distance covered-it decreases as the heightincreases.
In terms of value of the 2 energies, as the gravitational potential energy of the 3 runsincreases, their kinetic energy also increases.
VI. CONCLUSION
While at the top of the ramp, the cart has a large quantity of potential energy and hasno kinetic energy. As the cart descends, its potential energy is transformed to kinetic
energy as it speeds up. Potential energy is converted to kinetic energy as motion
takes place, then, as motion decreases, kinetic energy is again converted to potential
energy. Even though there is an absence of external forces while doing work, the
total mechanical energy is conserved.
Initial potential energy is equal to the final kinetic energy. Both the GPE and KE are
directly proportional to the height of the ramp.
VII. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS1. What kind of energy did the cart have at its release point?
At its release point the cart has a large quantity of potential energy and basically no kinetic
energy, while it is almost at rest.
2. How did the cart obtain that energy?
The cart can obtain and conserve energy if and only if conservative forces are doing work on the
cart.
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3. What kind of energy/energies did the cart have as it was rolling down the ramp?
As the cart rolls down the ramp, its potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy and the
car speeds up.
4. What happens to the velocity of the cart as it slides down the incline plane? How doesthis affect the kinetic energy of the cart? How about its potential energy?
As the cart descends the incline plane, it gains speed. The stored energy (potential energy) fromthe release point will be transformed to its minimum amount, while the low moving energy
(kinetic energy) is transformed to its maximum amount as the cart loses height.
5. As the height of the ramp increases, what happened to the
a. Acceleration of the cartThe acceleration of the cart also increases.
b. Initial potential energy of the cartInitial potential energy would reach its maximum level.
c. Final kinetic energy of the cartIt would also reach its maximum level, thus making it equal to the initial potentialenergy.
6. As the mass of the cart increases, what happened to the
a. Acceleration of the cartAcceleration would decrease since the more something weighs, or the more mass it has,
the more acceleration or force is required to move it.
b. Initial potential energy of the cartInitial potential energy would increase and will reach its maximum level.
c. Final kinetic energy of the cartIt would be at the same maximum value level of the initial potential energy of the cart
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7. Based from your data, what is the initial mechanical energy and the final mechanical
energy of the cart? How do the values of the initial mechanical energy and final
mechanical compare to the initial potential energy and final kinetic energy?
The initial mechanical and the final mechanical energy of the cart are of the same values-their
maximum levels.
8. How does this experiment demonstrate the transformation of Mechanical energy?
It shows that at the start the pushcart possesses only PE. As it moves down, it loses PE and
gains KE, but the sum of KE and PE remains constant. When it reaches the ground, it loses
all the PE but has the maximum KE (PE lost=KE gained).
VIII. REFERENCES1. Williams, Trinklein, Metcalfe.Modern Physics, 1
stedition.1984
2. Cordero-Navaza and Valdes.Physics, 2nd
edition. 20013. Hewitt. Conceptual Physics. 2005
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