Experiment 4: Work Power and Energy
So, Francesca Vada A., Urbano, Courtney A., Yap, Justinne R.
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science, University of Santo Tomas
Espa​ñ​a, Manila Philippines
Abstract
In this experiment, work, power
and energy were measured and explored
in detail. The first activity aims to
determine the member with the highest
power output when going down and up the
stairs by computing for the work done
through the measurements of the members’
weights and time to go up and down and
also the measurement of the length and
height of the stairs. Member 2 produced
the highest power output with 6451N. The
first two objectives of the experiment was
achieved in Activity # 2 by measuring the
kinetic and potential energy change of a
ball freely falling 50 cm above the Vernier
Logger Pro.
1. Introduction
In today’s society, energy
conservation is an important topic-not only
because it reduces energy services, but
also because it ​results in increased
environmental quality, ​national security​,
personal financial security and higher
savings​, which are significant not only in
economics but also in the field of science
and technology.
Energy ​is the capacity for doing
work. It can be converted in form, but not
created or destroyed. It may exist in
potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical,
chemical, nuclear, or other various forms.
Work ​is done when there is a displacement
of the location of the object in the
direction of the force. ​Power ​is the rate of
doing work. It is the amount of ​work done
over a given period of time.
Mechanical energy is the sum of
the potential and kinetic energies in a
system. The principle of the conservation
of mechanical energy states that the total
mechanical energy in a system (i.e., the
sum of the potential plus kinetic energies)
remains constant as long as the only forces
acting are conservative.
The objectives of this experiment
are the following: (1) to demonstrate
conservation of mechanical energy, (2) to
measure change in kinetic and potential
energies as a ball moves in free fall, and
(3) to determine power output when going
up and down stairs.
2. Theory
The experiment makes use of the
definitions of concepts such as work,
power, and energy. The equations were
derived from the definition of these said
concepts and values were obtained through
the use of such equations.
In the first activity, Equation 1 was
used in order to obtain work and power.
Where F is the force or the capacity to do
work, while m is the mass or the amount
of particles of an object, and a is the
acceleration due to gravity which is a
constant
Work is defined as the force done
into an object in order to cause that
object’s displacement. Mathematically, it
can be expressed in the form of Equation
2:
Where W is the work done, F is the force,
d is the distance, and cosine theta is the
angle between the force and the
displacement vector. The angle used in the
equation was obtained using pythagorean
theorem as shown on Equation 3:
Where c is the hypotenuse, while a and b
are the opposite and adjacent legs of the
triangle.
Power is the rate at which a certain
amount of work is done. Therefore, it can
be translated into Equation 4:
e​ q.4 : P= Wt
Where P is the power output, while W is
the amount of work exerted, and t is the
elapsed time.
In Activity 1, it was hypothesized
by the group that more work will be
exerted by an object ( or the student) if
he/she is heavier in terms of weight and
lesser work exerted if an object is lighter.
However, it also indicates that more work
requires a larger power output which
means that the heavier object is more
powerful than the lighter object. Power
does not solely depend on work but also at
the rate of how an object is working.
For the second activity, though
energy was not computed, its equation is
shown below in order to fully explain the
concept of energy. Energy is defined as the
capacity to do work. There are different
form of energy; however, only three forms
will be shown, namely, kinetic, potential,
and mechanical energy. Kinetic energy is
the energy of an object in motion.
Equation 5 shows the variables included in
computing for kinetic energy.
Where KE represents the kinetic energy, m
is the mass of an object and v is the speed
of an object.
On the other hand, potential energy
is the energy stored by an object at rest. It
is expressed in Equation 6.
Eq.6: PE= mgh
Where PE is the potential energy, m is the
mass of an object, g is the gravitational
constant (9.8 m/s2), while h is the height
of the object at rest.
Mechanical energy is simply
defined as the ability to do work whether it
is in the form of potential or kinetic
energy. In order to compute the total
mechanical energy, equation 7 is used.
​Eq.7: TME= PE+KE
Where TME is the total mechanical energy
of an object, PE is the potential energy and
KE is the kinetic energy.
3. Methodology
The first activity for this
experiment concerns the demonstration of
power. A stopwatch was prepared prior to
the experiment. In a group, each member
was asked to go down and up the stairs
from one floor to another. Each of their
time to go down and time to go up was
recorded. The distance between two floors
was measured using a meter stick. The
weight of each member was determined
through the use of a weighing scale. Using
the given values, the work done by gravity
of each member was computed using the
formula for work and the power output of
each member was also computed, which
analyzed whom among members produced
the most power.
The second activity was the
demonstration of the conservation of
mechanical energy of the tossed plastic
down
ball by the use of the motion detector
(s)
computer software Vernier Logger Pro.
The graphical curves were predicted and Power 333.22 356.06 483. 59
sketched of potential energy versus time, output W W W
kinetic energy versus time, and the in going
combination of the two – the total down
mechanical energy versus time of a ball (W)
thrown vertically upward from a height of
50.0 cm. In order to compare the predicted
graphs, the motion detector computer
software Vernier Logger Pro​(c) with the file The weight of each member was
“16 Energy of a Tossed Ball” was used. converted to newton using the formula
The ball was tossed straight upwards while Wt=mg. Table 1 shows the data of each
holding it 50.0 cm above the motion member and the computations for work
detector until it began to collect data. and power output changes. Gathered data
shows that going down requires less
4. Results and Discussions power. This is because of the pull of
gravity. The gravitational pull ​g naturally
Activity 1 acts downward hence, it is easier to follow
Table 1. The work done and power output its direction than to oppose it.
of Each Member of the group in going up
and down the staircase. Work can be defined as transfer of
energy and it is said that work is done in
Member 1 2 3 an object when there is a transfer of energy
So Urbano Yap to that object. Work done can be computed
using the formula ​W=Fdcos θ, ​where F=
Weight 441 N 617.4 N 597.8 N
weight of the object, d= vertical distance,
(N)
θ is the smaller angle between force and
Work in -4608.5 -6451.8 -6247.0 distance. As seen in the table, ​member 2
going J J J (Urbano) who has the largest F or weight
up (J) produced the highest amount of work and
member 1 (So) ​, having the lowest weight,
Time to 15.10 s 15.48 s 15.62 s gave the least work.
go up
(s) Power, on the other hand is the
work done in a unit of time. The unit of
Power -305.20 -416.78 -399.94 power is Joule/second (J/s) and can be
output W W W computed using the formula P=work/time.
in going Power is directly proportional to work.
up (W) Power varies on whether the member is
rising or going down the staircase. It is
Work in 4608.5 6451.8 6247.0 directly proportional to work thus as work
going J J J increases, power increases as well.
down However, since power is inversely
(J) proportional to time, the lower the unit of
time, the larger the power output.
Time to 13.83 s 18.12 s 12.91 s
go
 Ideally, the member who produced
the highest work over the least unit of time
would generate the highest power. In the
table, the member who produced the
highest work output over the unit of time
generated the highest power output, both
of which going up and down, ​Urbano had
the highest power output.

Activity 2
Predictions:
d. Fig. 4.0 Potential and Kinetic
a.​ ​Fig. 1.0 Graph of potential energy vs. time
energy vs time plot by the use of Vernier
Logger Pro​(c)

b.​ F
​ ig. 2.0 Graph of kinetic energy vs. time

e. Figure 4.1 Total Mechanical Energy vs.

time plot by the use of Vernier Logger
Pro​(c)

c. ​Fig. 3.0 Graph of total mechanical energy

vs. time

Figure 4.0 shows that as the ball

was tossed, the kinetic energy at the
starting point is at 0 while the potential
energy is shown to increase. As the kinetic
energy increases over time, the potential
energy decreases.
In Figure 4.1, the total energy is
obtained by adding the potential and
kinetic energy of an object, which is
shown in the graph.
5. Application
1. Compare the work that you do
when you go upstairs to the work you do in
going downstairs. Based on this, can you
explain why it is more difficult to go
upstairs than downstairs?
Usually, the work done is the same
because the weight is invariant in a
particular location. Furthermore, it is more
difficult to go upstairs because you are
opposing the natural direction of gravity
which is acted downwards (​g = 9.8 m/s​2​).
2. A certain professor finds it easy to
go upstairs from the ground floor to the
third floor of the main Building by going
up the second floor using the main stairs,
walking along the corridor of the
accounting division and using the side
stairs to go to the third floor. Is there a
basis to this from the point of view of
physics?
Yes; it is because of the steepness
of the stairs. It is much more difficult to
use stairs with more inclination as you
tend to be more careful to avoid any
accident/s which results to a greater effort
and longer time.
3. ​It is 5 minutes before your 7:00 AM
class in the fourth floor and you are still in
the ground floor. Will you run or walk
upstairs in order not to be late? Assume
that your power output is 15 watts and 20
watts when walking and running,
respectively. The vertical distance between
the ground floor and the fourth floor and
the fourth floor is 12 m and that you weigh
750 N.
In the point of view of physics,
using 20 watts of power will ensure a
person to not be late for class. Since the
power is expressed as, P = W/T, power
itself is directly proportional to work
exerted, while at the same time, inversely
proportional to a given time period. With
regards to the definition of the formula
itself, without much consideration of the
vertical distance and weight of an
individual, it is concluded that less power
exerted may not reach against the desired
time period, and greater power expended
by a person will help save time.
Therefore, I would rather run
because the resulting time will only be
450s or about 7.5 minutes only than
walking which will be 600s or about 10
min.
4​. ​An object is thrown vertically up.
Neglecting air resistance, how is the
change in the potential energy of the
object related the change in its kinetic
energy?
As the object is thrown up, it slows
down. As a result, the kinetic energy
decreases. Moreover, the object slows
down due to the force of gravity pushing
down on it. Hence, the gravitational
potential energy increases. For upward to
downward, it is lose of KE – gain of PE​grav.
6. Conclusion
The Law of Conservation of
Energy was displayed in all the
experiments that produced satisfactory
results. Errors were due to miscalculations
and the difference between the weights of
each member. For the energy, it is really
neither created nor destroyed. From the
graphs provided, the relationship between
the kinetic and potential energies are
opposite; that is, it’s either lose or gain.
Although they vary when the object
moves, their sum is still the same (as stated
in the conservation of mechanical energy)
regardless of any situations assuming it is
in a closed system.

Calibrating the ball to a certain

height and dropping it into the device
connected to the motion detector computer
measured the Potential and kinetic energy.
Power was measured in the first activity,
concluding that Miss Urbano had the
largest power output both going down and
going up.

7. References

[1] Ford, A., Freedman, R., Young, H.

(2012). ​Sears and Zemansky’s University
Physics with Modern Physics. New York,
NY: Pearson Learning.

[2] Stewart, J. (2003). ​Early

Transcendentals Single Variable Calculus.
Canada, CA: Thomson Learning.

[3] (2016). Khan Academy. Work and

Power. Retrieved from:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/phy
sics/work-and-energy