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Physics 111 Lab #4:

Energy



Key Activities:

 Energetics of a Bouncing Ball









One activity will involve analyzing the potential and kinetic energies (Lectures 9, 10, 11) of a bouncing basketball.



Using a motion detector, the displacement and potential, kinetic, and total energies of the basketball can be monitored (see below), illustrating conservation of energy during free fall motion of the ball, as well as the loss of the basketball's total energy each time the ball hits the floor.




 Energy Loss of a Bouncing Ball





By plotting the basketball's total energy after each bounce, En, as a function of the number of bounces, n, one can analyze the energy loss of the bouncing basketball. As shown in the lower figure, the total energy of the ball decreases roughly exponentially with the number of bounces, the significance of which will be explored in this laboratory.





 

What's happening?




 Energetics of Sliding Motion



The energetics of a cart sliding down a "frictionless" incline will also be investigated in order to demonstrate the relationship between potential and translational kinetic energies, and the conservation of energy in the absence of dissipation (Lectures 9, 10, 11).




 Potential Energy Stored in a Spring





By attaching a spring to the cart so that the spring is stretched as the cart rolls down the incline (see previous activity), the interplay between the cart's kinetic energy, the cart's gravitational potential energy, and the spring's potential energy will be studied (Lecture 10).

Plot of the gravitational potential energy of the cart (bottom left), the kinetic energy of the cart (top right), the spring potential energy (bottom right), and the total energy (top left), as the cart rolls from the top of the incline (Lecture 10).

 

What's happening?






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