Lab 6: Energy
The intent of this lab is to show the relationships of energy to a system. For this experiment, we had a spring attached to a car, which was attached to a string that went through a rotary sensor and had a weight attached at the end. By stretching the spring, and causing the weight to drop nearer to the ground and bounce up we were able to determine: the angle of the string and rotations; the car position; height of the weight bouncing up and down; velocity; the stretch of the spring; gravitational potential energy (GPE); the springs potential energy (SPE); the kinetic energy produced (KE); and the total energy of the system over time. Where, gravitational potential energy is the energy the weight has due to its position in the …show more content…
When the spring is not stretched and the weight on the string is the highest it can be from the ground the gravitational potential energy is at its maximum amount and the spring potential energy is at a minimum since it is not stretched. Kinetic at this point is at zero. Next, as the weight starts to drop the gravitational potential energy begins to decrease while the spring’s potential energy increases as it begins to stretch. During the middle the kinetic energy is at its maximum since the kinetic energy is the energy of motion. Lastly, as the weight nears the ground, the gravitational potential energy is at its minimum since the weight is as close as possible to the ground, the springs potential energy reaches its maximum since the spring is as stretched as it will go with the specific weight attached and the kinetic energy returns to zero. This change from maximum and minimums describes the oscillations of GPE, SPE and KE as shown in figure blah blah. Furthermore, as GPE increases the energy comes from KE because the object is nearing a stop which means energy is transferred to potential energy, but since the spring is not stretched when GPE is at a maximum the kinetic energy is transferred to GPE. This also explains why the variations in
The intent of this lab is to show the relationships of energy to a system. For this experiment, we had a spring attached to a car, which was attached to a string that went through a rotary sensor and had a weight attached at the end. By stretching the spring, and causing the weight to drop nearer to the ground and bounce up we were able to determine: the angle of the string and rotations; the car position; height of the weight bouncing up and down; velocity; the stretch of the spring; gravitational potential energy (GPE); the springs potential energy (SPE); the kinetic energy produced (KE); and the total energy of the system over time. Where, gravitational potential energy is the energy the weight has due to its position in the …show more content…
When the spring is not stretched and the weight on the string is the highest it can be from the ground the gravitational potential energy is at its maximum amount and the spring potential energy is at a minimum since it is not stretched. Kinetic at this point is at zero. Next, as the weight starts to drop the gravitational potential energy begins to decrease while the spring’s potential energy increases as it begins to stretch. During the middle the kinetic energy is at its maximum since the kinetic energy is the energy of motion. Lastly, as the weight nears the ground, the gravitational potential energy is at its minimum since the weight is as close as possible to the ground, the springs potential energy reaches its maximum since the spring is as stretched as it will go with the specific weight attached and the kinetic energy returns to zero. This change from maximum and minimums describes the oscillations of GPE, SPE and KE as shown in figure blah blah. Furthermore, as GPE increases the energy comes from KE because the object is nearing a stop which means energy is transferred to potential energy, but since the spring is not stretched when GPE is at a maximum the kinetic energy is transferred to GPE. This also explains why the variations in