As the students walk in the classroom, they will see 2 bowling balls individually attached by strings to the sealing at equal heights. The mass of each ball is 2kg and 4kg. The students will also notice a thick clay disk directly under the each ball. As soon as the bell rings, the students will join their assigned partner and will sit at the tables preassigned to them. I will begin by grabbing two bouncing balls of equal size and mass, and will let them drop. The students will be asked to discuss which ball reached the floor first. I will then grab 2 bouncing balls of different size and mass, and will ask the students to predict which ball will reach the floor first. There will be misconceptions about which ball will reach the floor first,
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Based on the previous examples they are likely to predict that both will reach the clay disks at the same time, but they will be asked to ponder on the following: if I cut the strings at the same time, they will reach the clay disk at the same time, but which ball will create a deeper dent on the clay disk? If one ball leaves a deeper dent, does that mean that it has more gravitational potential energy or less? To respond to these questions the students will work on the Gravitational Potential Energy Investigation handout, and the strings holding the bowling balls will be cut only after they finish their investigation so they can explain why one ball makes a deeper dent in the clay disk than the other …show more content…
Support your answer with the calculations you made in step 8.
After the students finish part 1 of their investigation, they will move on to part 2. As the students drop one ball at different heights onto a clay disk, they will be asked to think of a trend: as the ball drops from lower to higher altitudes, does the dent made on the clay disk get shallower or deeper? Once the students calculated the gravitational potential energy of the ball at three different heights, I will guide them into relating the quantitative gravitational potential energy to the qualitative observations on the clay disk by asking them the following question: Which gravitational potential energy values result in deeper dents on the clay? In addition, the students will answer the following questions on their investigation handout:
Question 3: At which height does the green ball have the highest gravitational potential energy? Support your answer with the observations you made in steps 3, 4, and 5.
Question 4: What is the relationship between the gravitational potential energy of the green ball and the height it is raised to? Support your answer with your data, graph, and
Based on the previous examples they are likely to predict that both will reach the clay disks at the same time, but they will be asked to ponder on the following: if I cut the strings at the same time, they will reach the clay disk at the same time, but which ball will create a deeper dent on the clay disk? If one ball leaves a deeper dent, does that mean that it has more gravitational potential energy or less? To respond to these questions the students will work on the Gravitational Potential Energy Investigation handout, and the strings holding the bowling balls will be cut only after they finish their investigation so they can explain why one ball makes a deeper dent in the clay disk than the other …show more content…
Support your answer with the calculations you made in step 8.
After the students finish part 1 of their investigation, they will move on to part 2. As the students drop one ball at different heights onto a clay disk, they will be asked to think of a trend: as the ball drops from lower to higher altitudes, does the dent made on the clay disk get shallower or deeper? Once the students calculated the gravitational potential energy of the ball at three different heights, I will guide them into relating the quantitative gravitational potential energy to the qualitative observations on the clay disk by asking them the following question: Which gravitational potential energy values result in deeper dents on the clay? In addition, the students will answer the following questions on their investigation handout:
Question 3: At which height does the green ball have the highest gravitational potential energy? Support your answer with the observations you made in steps 3, 4, and 5.
Question 4: What is the relationship between the gravitational potential energy of the green ball and the height it is raised to? Support your answer with your data, graph, and