LAB3

CONSERVATIONOFENERGY

This week we have enough of the basic concepts to begin a discussion of energy itself. Energy is
sometimesintroducedasifitisaconceptindependentofNewtonslaws(thoughrelatedtothem).In
fact, however, the idea of energy arises directly out ofNewtonssecondlaw,andNewtonssecond
lawactuallyguaranteesacentralfactaboutenergy,namelythatnoenergyiseverlostordestroyed,
butsimplychangesform,thesocalledlawofconservationofenergy.

This can be illustrated by the example of the falling ball (You can think of one which Galileo
dropped.) The example involves just a little bit of algebra which we use to show how the energy
conservationlawcomesoutofNewtonssecondlaw.Rememberthatthegravitationalforceonthe
fallingballistheconstantmg,wheremisthemassoftheballandgisaconstantaccelerationdueto
gravity.ThereforeNewtonssecondlawtakestheform

mg=ma

forthefallingball.Nowtheaccelerationisthespeeddividedbythetimeelapsed.
InNewtonssecondlaw,itshouldbetheinstantaneousacceleration,but,becausetheaccelerationisa
constant for the gravitational force, the instantaneous acceleration is the same as the average
acceleration.Considerthemomentjustbeforetheballhitstheground,supposedtobeatimetsince
itwasdropped.Ifthespeedisvthen,the
accelerationisv/t.Puttingthisinthepreviousequation

mg=mv/t

Nowsupposetheballfelladistanced.Toturntheprecedingequationintoanequationinvolving
energywemultiplybothsidesofthepreviousequationbyd

mgd=(mv/t)d

Nowdistheaveragevelocitytimest.Heretheballwasacceleratingsotheaveragevelocityisnot
thefinalvelocityjustbeforeithitsthegroundbutis1/2ofthatvelocitysod=(v/2)t.(Pleasetakea
minute to think about why the average velocity is 1/2 of the velocity at th end of the balls fall.) I
substituted=(v/2)t.fordintherighthandsideofthepreviousequationandsimplify

mgd=(mv/t)(v/2)t=(1/2)mv2

At the end of the fall, d the distance fallen, is the same as h, the height of the ball when it was
dropped.Sowecanwritethelastequationequivalentlyas

mgh=(1/2)mv2

Thisisanequationwhichdescribeshowenergyisconservedforafallingball.
Onthelefthandside,thequantitymghistheforceontheballtimesitsheighthabovetheground
before it was dropped. We call mgh the gravitational potential energy of the ball before it was
dropped.Ontherighthandsideisaquantity

(1/2)mv2

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 1001LAB3:CONSERVATIONOFENERGY

whichiscalledthekineticenergyoftheballjustbeforeithitstheground.Weinterpretthe=signto
mean that the gravitational potential energy of the ball before it fell was converted into an exactly
equalamountofkineticenergywhichithadjustbeforeithittheground.

To summarize, for a falling ball, two forms of energy, kinetic and gravitational potential, are
involved.Thesum,
totalenergy=gravitationalpotentialenergy+kineticenergy

staysthesameduringthemotion,butatthebeginningofthefallitisallgravitationalpotentialand
attheenditisallkinetic.Inbetween,thoughwedidnotproveit,thegravtitationalpotentialenergy
graduallydecreaseswhilethekinetic
energyincreasestokeepthesumconstant.Thefactthatthesumisunchangediswhatwemeanby
conservationofenergyinthiscase.IshowedbyalgebraicmanipulationofNewtonssecondlawthat
thisfollowsfromNewtonssecondlawandisnotanindependentprinciple.Thisconservationlaw
turnsouttoapplyforanysystemofobjectsobeyingNewtonsequation,thoughsomeotherformsof
potentialenergyneedtobeintroduced.ThoughitfollowsfromNewtonsequation,theconservation
ofenergyisofteneasiertoapplyandthinkaboutthanthegeneralsolutiontoNewtonsequations,so
wewilloftenapplyconservationofenergyconsiderationstostudyofcomplicatedsituationswithout
worryingmuchabouttheunderlyingNewtonianmechanics.

In this exercise, you and your partners will investigate the law of conservation of energy with an
aluminumtrackandalowfrictioncartattachedtoahangingmass.Youwillcalculate:(i)thetotal
changeinkineticenergyofthecartandhangingmass,(ii)thechangeinthepotentialenergyofthe
hanging mass. According to the conservation of energy and the relationship between work and
energy,thesequantitiesshouldbeequal.

Figure1:
Cart Track

PRELABREADING


HinrichsandKleinbach,pp4850


EQUIPMENT

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 1001LAB3:CONSERVATIONOFENERGY

1aluminumtrack
1pulley
1masshanger
1meterstick
1videocamera
1lowfrictionPASCOcart
1pieceofstring
1massset
1stopwatch
1computer/LapProinterfaceandMotionsensorw/LoggerPro


PREDICTIONS/PRELIMINARYQUESTIONS


Acartislocatedonalevelairtrackwithastringattachedbetweenthecartandaweight.Theweight
ishangingbythestringsoitcanpullthecartalongthetrack.(Seethediagraminfigure1.)

1. Whentheweightishangingbelowthepulleybutabovethefloor,whatformofenergycould
beusedtodescribetheenergyoftheweightrelativetothefloor?Whatquantitieswouldyou
needtoknowormeasuretocalculatethisenergy?
2. Does the potential energy of the hanging weight increase, decrease, or stay the same as it
fallstothefloor?
3. Doesthepotentialenergyofthecartonthetrackincrease,decrease,orstaythesameasitis
pulledbythehangingweight?
4. Supposetheweightfallsfromacertainheightandpullsthecartalongthehorizontaltrack.
Justbeforetheweighthitsthefloor,whatformofenergydoesitpossess?
5. Usingthelawofconservationofenergy,describetheenergysituationjustbeforethehanging
weightstartsfallingcomparedwiththeenergysituationjustbeforetheweighthitsthefloor.
6. Writeanexpressionfortheworkdonebygravityinpullingtheweightfromitsinitialheight
to the floor. What quantities do you need to measure to calculate the work done on the
hangingmass?


PROCEDURE


Inthisexercise,youandyourpartnerswillcalculate:i)thetotalchangeinkineticenergyofthecart
andhangingmassandii)thechangeinpotentialenergyofthehangingmass.

1. Thechangeinkineticenergyofthecartandhangingmasscanbecalculated.Thetwoobjects
willbothstartatrest,sotheirinitialkineticenergiesarezero.Thecartandthehangingmass
will accelerate at the same rate (a string connects them.) The velocity of one object will
alwaysbeequaltothevelocityoftheother,aslongasthestringremainstaut.

Withthecomputerdataanalysissoftware,youcanfindthevelocityofthecartorhangingmass
atanypointintime.Youandyourpartnersareinterestedonlyinthefinalvelocity.(Afterthe

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 1001LAB3:CONSERVATIONOFENERGY

weighthitsthefloor,whathappenstothespeedofthecart?)Themassofthecartandthatofthe
hanging mass can be determined with a triplebeam balance. Refer to the appendix on using
LoggerProifnecessary.
Withthisinformation,calculatethekineticenergyofeachobjectseparately.Recallthatkinetic
energyis:

1 2
KE = mv
2
wheremismassofanobjectandvisthevelocity.BesuretousetheproperSIunits:kilograms
formassandmeterspersecondforvelocity.Tocalculatethetotalchangeinkineticenergy,you
mustaddthefinalkineticenergyforboththehangingmassandthecart.

2. Thereisnochangeinthegravitationalpotentialenergyofthecartifthetrackislevel,its
height off the floor does not change. Only the height of the hanging mass changes. As a
result,onlythepotentialenergyofthehangingmasschanges.Definethefloorasthepoint
ofzeropotentialenergy.Recalltheequationforgravitationalpotentialenergy:



wheremisthemassoftheobject,gistheaccelerationofgravityonEarthssurface,andhisthe
heightfromthepointofzeropotentialenergy
Usethisequationandthemeasuredmassofthehangingmassandthedistanceiffelltocalculate
thepotentialenergy,



CONCLUSIONS


1. Commentonyourvaluesforthetotalchangeinkineticenergyofthecartandthehanging
massandthechangeinpotentialenergyofthehangingmass.

2. a)Doyourvaluessupporttheconservationofenergy?Explain.
b)Howcanyouaccountforanydiscrepanciesbetweenthesevalues?

Consider the following situation: A physics instructor demonstrates the
conservationofenergywithabowlingballattachedtotheceilingwitha
string.Itissimplyalargependulum.Whenthependulumispulledback,
ithasallpotentialenergy,andatthebottomofitsswing,ithasallkinetic
energy.Thephysicsinstructorreleasesthebowlingballfromthetipofhis
nose,anditswingsacrosstheroomandbacktowardhim.Basedonthe
conservationofenergyandyourresultsforthisexercise,willthisphysics
instructor get smacked by the bowling ball? Will it touch his nose? Explain. What if he gave the
bowlingballaslightpushwhenheletgo?Explainyouranswers.Ifthereisadifference,distinguish
betweenwhathappensintheoryandwhathappensintherealworld.

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