|
We Investigate Kinetic and Potential Energy |
First we prepared the materials. A cup had to be cut so it had a "door". |
We measured the height of one book and then the height of two books. |
A ramp led from the top of the books down to the cup. |
The marble at the top of the ramp had potential energy. |
We predicted how far the marble would move the cup at each height. |
We let the marble slide down the ramp and measured the "work" it did. |
We tried the height of three books and the height of four books. |
Each time we wrote down the actual distance the cup moved. |
The higher the ramp, the more potential energy the marble had. ...Katie |
| These
remarks are from the student's lab notes: The height of the ramp made the marble knock the cup farther. The height affected it's potential by making the marble go faster. It affected the kinetic by the marble going faster and slowing down when it hit the cup. ...Haley Raising the ramp with more books made the potential at the top higher, and then the marble at the bottom had the most kenetic energy. The more kinetic energy it had, the farther the cup went. ...Kevin My predictions were not too close at all except one. I predickted that the marble would move the cup 60 mm and the real answer was 68 mm. Ashley S. |
As
you raised the ramp, the marble was going steeper
downhill so it had more potential energy at the top. As
you raise the ramp the marble had more kinetic energy at
the bottom. Raising the ramp affected the work the marble
could do because it got more energy to push the cup.
...Kailani I would like to try a bigger marble. A bigger marble would push the cup farther than the little tiny marble. ...Joe K. The higher the ramp was the farther the marble went ...Chanel If we used a bigger marble it would probably push the cup farther than the liddle one did. ... Alex |
