ACTIVITY 7

ENERGY TRANSFORMATION

Objectives
 To determine the time of fall of an object released from rest.
 To determine the ratio of final kinetic energy to initial potential energy of the object.

Apparatus/Materials:
 Coin or pebble
 ruler, meterstick or triangle as platform for the coin
 pen/pencil or any long object similar to
 smartphone with installed phyphox application

Procedure
(Refer to the set-up for Activity No. 4: Motion of a Free Falling Body):
1. Using your smartphone, open phyphox, then select the phyphox Acoustic Stopwatch
experiment under the Timers section to measure the time of fall of the spherical object.
Note: Increase the “threshold” value accordingly, just enough that there is no measurement being
registered when you click the start button. This process would offset the background noise of your
surroundings. Once the threshold level has been set, press “reset” discard any prior measurement(s)
recorded.

2. Place the ruler or triangle on top of the table, with about a 10cm portion of the ruler
protruding from the edge of the table. Afterwards, place the coin on top of the ruler.
3. Measure the height (H) of the object, from the ground to the center of gravity of the object.
4. When you are ready to take measurements, press the play button.
5. Using a pen or pencil, hit the ruler on the side to release the coin. This will simultaneously
generate the noise necessary for the “acoustic stopwatch” to start measuring. Once the
coin hits the ground, it will generate the second sound that will stop the measurement.
6. Record the measured time of fall t and then reset the acoustic stopwatch.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6, for 4 more trials.
8. The velocity 𝑣 of the object just before hitting the ground may be computed from the
kinematic equation

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 𝑣 = 𝑣𝑜 − 𝑔𝑡 (1)
Since the coin was released from rest, the initial velocity 𝑣𝑜 of the coin is zero. Thus, the
magnitude of the velocity of the coin just before hitting the ground is
𝑣 = 𝑔𝑡 (2)
where g = 9.80 m/s2 and t is the time of fall.
8. Without measuring the mass of the object, compute for the ratio of kinetic energy of the
coin just before hitting the ground to the initial potential energy of the coin using the
equation
1
𝐾𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑣 2 𝑣2
2
= = (3)
𝑈𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑔𝐻 2𝑔𝐻

Fig. 7.1 Acoustic Stopwatch set up

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Name: __________________________________________
Date Performed: _____________________________________________________
Course Code & Section: ______________________________________________

Data and Result:

Initial height of the object H = __________ cm = ____________m

Velocity just before 𝐾𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙

Time to hit the
Trial hitting the ground 𝑈𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙
ground (s)
(cm/s) using equation (3)
1

Sample Computations:

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QUESTIONS:
𝐾𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
1. Theoretically, what should be the ratio ? Provide an explanation for your answer.
𝑈𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙

𝐾𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
2. What do you observe regarding the values of the ratio of ? Provide an explanation
𝑈𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙
why your observed values are the same or not same as the theoretical ratio.

3. If you increase the initial height of the object and perform the experiment again, do you
think you will get a closer value of kinetic energy to potential energy? Explain why.

4. Open the PhET Colorado Interactive Simulation Energy Skate Park: Basics at
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-skate-park-basics
(a) Enter the “Intro” interactive simulation and check “Bar Graph”. Place the skater on the
track and press the play button. What do you observe about the values of the kinetic
energy, potential energy, and total energy of the skater during his motion?

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(b) Still under Energy Skate Park: Basics, enter the “Friction” interactive simulation and
check “Bar Graph”. Place the skater on the track and press the play button. In the presence
of friction on the track, what do you observe about the values of the kinetic energy, potential
energy, and total energy of the skater during his motion?

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