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Demo - Random Energy. I demonstrate the work energy theorem - I do work lifting a weight, throwing a ball, drawing a bow and stretching a spring. I challenge the students to think of energy that is not nuclear. (If they say "Gasoline" I trace it back to the sun, and the sun is a nuclear power plant)
Demo - Staring Death in the Eye! The teacher bets his life that Energy is Conserved.
Lab - Human Power Output - Students run up a flight of stairs (The visitors side at the Soccer Stadium is the best) They measure their mass, the change in height, and time themselves several times. (You can open this up. I have had kids do this in the weight room)
Lab - Force Energy Design Lab. Students pick variables and design their own lab. The main focus is on the design of the experiment. The website is helpful:
Lab - It's all Uphill - Students measure the length of and the force necessary to pull a cart up a ramp of varying steepness, but the same height. From the force and the length, they can calculate the work needed to pull the cart up. Generally the work is pretty consistent, with short steep ramps requiring more force, and longer ramps less. An interesting extension would be to have each group use a ramp of a different height, and as a class graph the average work done against the height of the ramp.
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Demo - Random
Lab - Random
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