Name:

Date:
Teacher:

Activity: Work and Kinetic Energy

Directions:
Read through the entire procedure before beginning.

Materials:

Before assembling the materials, prepare a clean, dry workspace (away from food) with all necessary
materials. Your safety glasses should be worn throughout the experiment.

 Safety glasses
 Scissors
 Empty box from stopwatch
 Steel ball- small, 1
 Books, 4-6 (Depending on height)
 Tape
 Wooden ruler with groove, 2

Procedure

1. Remove the stopwatch from its box. Use a pair of scissors to cut the top and one of the ends of
the box, as pictured below. Reinforce the closed end of the box with tape. Write “Modified
Stopwatch Box” on the inside of the box, for future use. Note: if you are reusing a lab kit, the
box has already been modified for you.

Figure 1: Modified Box

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2. Place 1-2 books (start with a height of about 2 cm) on a flat surface where you have plenty of
room to work.
3. Set up a ramp by placing one end of a wooden rulers (grooved side up) on the stack of books.
4. Place the steel ball at the top of the ramp as a reference.
5. Place the box on the surface, close to the base of the ramp, centered at the bottom of the ramp
as shown in the images below. Mark the edge of the box (see blue tape in the image) as a
reference.

Figure 2: Side view of setup

Figure 3: Top View of Setup

6. Do a few test runs to make sure the ball rolls down the ruler and ands inside the empty box.

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 7. Measure and record the height of the track at the position where the ball will be released.
Record the release height of the ball.
8. Place the steel ball at the position where the track height was measured.
9. Release the ball from rest. To avoid pushing the ball, use a pencil or another ruler to hold the
ball in place and then quickly remove the pencil to release the ball.
10. Measure the distance the box moved from the reference point and record the stopping
distance in your data table.
11. Repeat steps 7-10 for an additional two trials. Calculate the average stopping distance for the
three trials. Record the average distance in the data table.
12. Using additional books, increase the height of the ramp by 2-3 cm. Repeat the process (steps 3-
11) until you have recorded data for six different heights. You will have to reposition the stack
of books so that the bottom of the ramp is close (~2 cm) to the opening of the box.
13. Using the average stopping distance and the height from which the ball was released, construct
a graph of “Stopping Distance vs. Release Height”.
14. Clean up your station and return materials, including the modified box, to the lab kit.

Data and Results

REMINDER: Don’t forget to add your data to the class lab notebook wiki (10 points)

Data, Results, Graph (15 points)

 Add your lab experiment images here. (Remember, no credit for the entire report if images are
missing)

 Fill in the data table below. Include units. Significant digits should reflect the precision of the
measuring tools.

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Mass of Box + Steel Ball: __________

Table 1: Stopping Distance vs. Release Height

Release Stopping Stopping Stopping Average

Height Distance Distance Distance Stopping
(Trial 1) (Trial 2) (Trial 3) Distance

Graph: Insert the Stopping Distance vs. Release Height graph

Focused Analysis Question (please type your response): (5 pts)

Based on your understanding of the Basic Energy Model (Section 10.1 of your ebook) is it
reasonable to assume that the mechanical energy of the earth-ball system is conserved (or mostly
conserved) as it moves down the ramp? Explain why or why not.

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