Content & Physics Concepts
Spring Potential Energy - Spring potential energy is the amount of energy stored in an object due to either expansion or compression. In my project, the spring potential energy was from the extension of the rat trap when it was pulled back. This amounted to 3.308 Joules.
Kinetic Energy - Kinetic energy is energy due to motion. In my project, kinetic energy can be found in the mousetrap jaw moving, as well as the axle spinning and the wheels rotating. At its max, this was 0.22 Joules.
Total Energy - Total energy is the total amount of energy that the car has throughout its drive. This energy can be converted to different forms. In the beginning, there is 100% potential energy. Therefore, the total energy is 3.308 Joules.
Thermal Energy - Thermal energy is the amount of energy that is gradually lost to friction or heat. This is 0 in the beginning, and gradually increases until it is all of the energy. In the middle of the 5 meters, roughly 2.5 Joules of energy had been converted to thermal. By the end, all of the energy, or 3.308 Joules, was thermal.
Distance vs. Time - Here, time is on the x axis and distance is on the y axis. The slope of this graph is velocity. As you can see, the velocity starts slow, speeds up, and slows down again at the end.
Velocity vs. Time - Here, time is on the x axis and velocity is on the y axis. Here, the slope is the acceleration. Matching the previous graph, you can see that it accelerates most at the beginning. Then it slowly decelerates until it stops.
Acceleration vs. Time - This graph shows the relationship between acceleration and time. As you can see, it accelerates most in the first 2 seconds. Then, it majorly decelerates. Slowly, the acceleration levels out until it finally reaches 0, stopping.
Rotational Inertia - Rotational Inertia is a spinning object's tendency to continue its state of spinning. This is prevalent in the wheels, because even when the mousetrap stops pulling on the axle, the wheels continue to spin for the last meter. This is because they were already spinning for the first four meters. Slowly, the wheels stop spinning due to friction.