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The purpose of this unit was to begin to explore the energies of a system. The point of this Lab was to create a Ball Drop Lab that directly showed a conversion between a change in PE to KE. The law of conservation of energy says that within a closed loop the energies within a system will be equal the energies cannot be created or destroyed.
Evidence Of Work:
My group decided to use a dense foam ball and two meter sticks. We took the meter sticks and taped on 5 cm higher than the other, hoping this would give us an accurate timing zone for the ball. We took 3 times and at the heights, 25cm, 50cm, and 100cm. To actually receive the data we filmed a stopwatch with the slow-motion camera on my phone. The data table on the left shows the average velocities at the three heights along with the energies expected, and received. We also added a percent error that showed us how off we were.
Our data shows us a positive conversion between PE and KE. This is not possible and we believe it stems from the inaccuracies in our Lab. Some of the equipment we used was inaccurate at times and lead to data that was hard to get. For example the phone we used had a tough time taking slow mo videos with a set frame per second. The frames would be very accurate then skip a few then be very acurate again. This led to huge time jumps in out data and even bigger energy changes. The document to the left is the Lab write up. This will show you how to complete this lab and what to expect/ what we found.
Content:
Velocity:
This is the change in distance with respect to time. The equation looks like v = 𝚫d/𝚫t
Acceleration:
This is the change in velocity with respect to time. The equation looks like a = 𝚫v/𝚫t
Free fall:
This is the act of an object falling due to Earth's gravity.
Forces and Newton’s Laws:
1st law) An object in motion stays in motion until put at rest/An object in rest stays in rest until put in motion.
2nd Law) The force on a object is equal to its mass times its acceleration.
3rd Law) When two objects interact the forces they apply are equal and opposite.
Friction:
This is the force of two objects rubbing together.
Air resistance:
This is the force applied on abject my air molecules.
Tension:
This is the force on a string or a connecting object that applies or is applied a force.
Block and tackle (pulleys and masses):
These are used for converting the direction of a force or a mass in a new direction.
Circular motion:
The motion of a object in a circular path, leads to slightly different equations.
Gravity and Orbits:
The act of an object falling faster than the force the planet can exert on it.
Energy:
This is the ability for a system to exert power or do work.
Conclusion:
I learned a lot of valuable tools and resources that will help me moving forward in physics. upin till this project I never realized how important little errors can be. Within this project when timing the ball before it hits the ground the difference between 0.01 and 0.015 was a 30% error. We ran into a lot of problems when timing and collecting accurate data. Developing a way to combat this problem and create a more accurate set up would drastically help eliminate impurities in the final conversion table. My table group worked very well together, we successfully showed a trend that resembled a PE =KE. We were very good collaborators and conciencus learners.
I do think that as a group we could have been a little better at critical thinking. I believe that finding more accurate results and data was something not far off from what we could have accomplished. We kept using the same video over and over again not realized we could get better information by using a new video and a new device overall. All in all I really enjoyed this Lab, it helped me learn about the design making process of an accuracy intensive lab and helped make me a better student.
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