Name:

Physics 111-09
April 7, 2020

Lab #8 Energy of a Tossed Ball

Objectives:

 Measure the change in the kinetic and potential energies as a ball moves in free fall.
 See how the total energy of the ball changes during free fall.

Preliminary Questions:

1. What form or forms of energy does the ball have while momentarily at rest at the top of the path?

Potential energy from gravity.

2. What form or forms of energy does the ball have while in motion near the bottom of its path?

Kinetic Energy

3. Sketch a graph of velocity vs. time for the ball.

4. Sketch a graph of kinetic energy vs. time for the ball.

5. Sketch a graph of potential energy vs. time for the ball.

6. If there are no frictional forces acting on the ball, how is the change in the ball’s
potential energy related to the change in kinetic energy?

There is an equal change in energy since no energy is lost due to friction, meaning as potential energy
decreases, kinetic energy increases with the same amount as potential energy lost.

Method:

The mass of the basketball was measured to be 0.516 kg.

The motion detector was placed in a protective box. The motion detector sensitivity switch was moved to
“ball/walk”. The motion detector was connected to the Vernier interface, which was plugged in for power
and connected to the computer. The Logger Pro software was opened on the computer, and file “16
Energy of a Tossed Ball” was opened.

The basketball was held over the motion detector, then tossed directly over the detector and caught, while
the motion detector was measuring distance, and calculating other parameters.

Data:

Mass of the ball (kg)

Position Time Height Velocity PE KE TE

(s) (m) (m/s) (J) (J) (J)

After release ~.50 s ~.15 m ~2.0 m/s 2.0 J .94 J 2.9 J

Top of path .73 s .58 m 0 m/s .94 J 0J 2.9 J
Before catch ~.90 s ~.20 m ~-2.0 m/s 2.0 J .92 J 2.9 J

Figure 1 Position and Velocity Profiles

 Figure 2 Typical Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy, and Total Energy

Data Analysis:

1. Click Examine, , and move the mouse across the position or velocity graphs of the motion of the ball to
answer these questions.
a. Identify the portion of each graph where the ball had just left your hands and was in free fall. Determine
the height and velocity of the ball at this time. Enter your values in your data table.

b. Identify the point on each graph where the ball was at the top of its path. Determine the time, height, and
velocity of the ball at this point. Enter your values in your data table.

c. Find a time where the ball was moving downward, just before it was caught. Measure and record the
height and velocity of the ball at that time.
 d. Choose two more points approximately halfway in time between the three recorded so far.
At t= 0.6 s and t=0.9 s
e. For each of the five points in your data table, calculate the Potential Energy (PE), Kinetic Energy (KE),
and Total Energy (TE). Use the position of the Motion Detector as the zero of your gravitational potential
energy.
For t= 0.5 s, t= 0.73 s, and t= 1.0 s, refer to the data table. At t= 0.6 s, PE is around 2.5 J, KE around .43 J,
and at t= 0.8s PE is around 2.3 J, KE around .60 J.
2. How well does this part of the experiment show conservation of energy? Explain.

This part of the experiment does a sufficient job at showing the conservation of energy because we can see
that throughout the different time intervals the total amount of energy remains constant even while the values
for kinetic and potential energy change.

3. Calculate the ball's kinetic and potential energy.

1
KE= mv 2
a. Logger Pro can graph the ball’s kinetic energy according to 2 if you supply the ball’s mass.
To do this, adjust the mass parameter.

a. Logger Pro can also calculate the ball’s potential energy according to PE = mgh. Here, m is the mass of
the ball, g is the free-fall acceleration, and h is the vertical height of the ball measured from the position of
the Motion Detector. The same mass parameter will be used to find PE.

b. Go to the next page of Logger Pro by clicking Next Page, .

4. Inspect your kinetic energy vs. time graph for the toss of the ball. Explain its shape and print or sketch the
graph.

The kinetic energy is at its highest just as the ball is released, as its velocity is the greatest. Its value is zero
when it reaches its peak as the ball has stopped moving and has just begun changing directions. The ball
reaches its highest kinetic energy just before the ball is caught, where its velocity is the greatest when falling.

5. Inspect your potential energy vs. time graph for the free-fall flight of the ball. Explain its shape and print or
sketch the graph.

The potential energy of the ball is at its lowest when kinetic energy is greatest, and is at its highest value when
the ball reaches its peak and kinetic energy=0.
6. Compare your energy graph predictions (from the Preliminary Questions) to the real data for the ball toss.

The graphs are quite similar.

7. Logger Pro will also calculate Total Energy (TE), the sum of KE and PE, for plotting. Record the graph by
printing or sketching.

Refer to graph.

8. What do you conclude from this graph about the total energy of the ball as it moved up and down in free fall?
Does the total energy remain constant? Should the total energy remain constant? Why? If it does not, what
sources of extra energy are there or where could the missing energy have gone?

The energy should remain constant due to the law of conservation of energy. In reality, this is true, however,
not all of the energy is conserved in the form of mechanical energy. Some energy is lost in the form of heat
due to friction. Energy in this case is conserved, but some of it was converted into different forms.

Conclusions:

This experiment showcased the Law of Conservation of energy. The goal of this lab was to
determine whether or not energy is conserved when a ball is in free fall. Another objective was to observe
the change on potential and kinetic energy of a ball in free fall.

The lab does indeed determine that energy is conserved, but also shows that in an environment
where there is friction, some energy is converted into forms other than mechanical. In this case, some
energy was lost in the form of heat due to friction from the air.

It also determines that when kinetic energy of a ball in free fall increases, the value of potential
energy decreases if it is to follow the law of conservation of energy. A ball has the most potential energy
as well as zero kinetic energy when it is at the peak of its height. The ball has the most kinetic energy
when it reaches its peak velocity.