My PBL Project:

Introduction:

My experiment "Maxwell's Wheel" is a simple experiment that has helped many people understand the conservation of energy. In this experiment I will be showing you how to better understand this foreign looking object that is actually more simple than you think and has helped many people throughout history gain more information about the conservation of energy and ho

w it works. This is shown in the project when by a wheel going up and then jerking itself back up to the top.

Driving Question:

How do the cords that are attached to the wheel make it come back up?

Materials:

-1 Maxwell’s wheel -1 Saddle base

-1 Forked light barrier -1 Support block

-1 Multi-core cable -2 Stand base

-Counter -Stand rod

-1 Holding magnet adapter with a release mechanism -4 Leybold multi clamp

-1 Scale with Pointers

Hypothesis:

--I believe that if the wheel continues to jerk up and down then it will eventually run out of kinetic energy, thus changing its kinetic energy to potential energy over a period of time causing it to slow down or stop.

Procedures:

You first want to set up the wheel according to the procedures on the box and the after you do that you will set it on a flat surface such as a counter top.
Next you will wind it up to the top then release it.
As it falls, gravitational potential energy will change to kinetic energy because of the wheel's descent and rotation.
Once it has unwounded at the bottom it will jerk and will change its linear momentum.
It will continue to do this and slow down wiggling from side to side slightly.

--This is what it will look like:

Safety:

You must always take into consideration that you can get hurt with anything so make sure that the mechanism is placed on a flat surface so that it will not fall on you. You might also not want to get your fingers near it while it is moving up and down because you have a chance of hurting it. Please have adult supervision with you just increase something goes wrong or if you need help.

Investigation Questions:

Why doesn't the wheel go all the way to the top after the first drop?--This is because it looses some of the mechanical energy what it was given when it was rolled up to the top.
What happens if you would change the mass of the wheel?-- If you were to change the mass of the wheel then it would loose its kinetic energy sooner or slower since the mass would be increased or decreased.
Why does the wheel start wiggling around after a while?--Because its kinetic energy changes to potential energy making it slow down so it starts to wobble around.
What happens if you change the length of the rods holding it up?-- I believe that this would be changing the amount of work being done by the wheel it would also change the amount of time the wheel is taking to go up and down.

Scientific Principle:

A wheel, which can unroll around its axis on two cords, moves a gravitational field. This process is filmed with a video camera. The potential energy, kinetic energy, and rotational energy are converted into one another and determined as a function of time. As the wheel falls it falls the wheel releases kinetic energy; when it reaches the bottom the kinetic energy changes to potential energy and it rolls back up again over and over again until all the energy is lost to friction.

Conclusion:

Kinetic energy in the wheel is turned into potential energy after a a period of time. The wheel will eventually slow down and start to wobble and then come to a stop. Maxwell's Wheel is a simple and unique way to show other people the conservation of energy. Before I did not understand it as well as I do now.

Definitions:

--Rotational Kinetic Energy:The rotational energy or angular kinetic energy is the kinetic energy due to the rotation of an object and is part of its total kinetic energy.

---Linear Kinetic Energy: Linear kinetic energy of an object is the energy it possesses because of its motion.

--Potential Energy: the energy possessed by a body by virtue of its position relative to others, stresses within itself, electric charge, and other factors.

Application/Real Life Uses:

This experiment could be used to teach people about the conservation of energy and how it works just as it helped me gain further knowledge over this. I am going to use this experiment as an example to explain what conservation of energy to people who don't quite understand it as well as it should be.

Math and Science Behind Maxwell's Wheel:

Kinetic energy of a rotating object is analogous to linear kinetic energy and can be expressed in terms of the moment of inertia and angular velocity. It follows that the rotational kinetic energy given to the flywheel is equal to the work done by the torque. After the wheel is released from the top, it unrolls from its cords and moves downward in the gravitational field. As time increases, more and more of the initial gravitational potential energy of the system is converted to transnational kinetic energy and rotational kinetic energy.

Background Research:

According to the BCIT website “Maxwell's wheel is used to demonstrate the forces of inertia as well the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and back again to potential energy.” Maxwell's wheel is made up of a axle-mounted flywheel held up by nylon cords at both ends. You wind it up to the top of the frame and then you let it go. As it is dropping, the gravitational potential energy will change to kinetic energy because of the wheel's of falling and its rotation. When it has unwounded to the bottom, there will be a sharp jerk on reaching the end of the nylon cords reverses its linear momentum. This impact at the bottom is nearly elastic but some of the kinetic energy is lost. The ratio of energy kept to starting energy tells you how elastic the collision was through its coefficient of restitution.