Throughout this laboratory session, we have been able to understand the movement of a

particle connected to a spool using a string under different conditions. This movement was
further analysed using MATLAB and its ode45 function, giving a more accurate answer than
one obtained by hand.

The process of solving a differential equation with ode45 requires first the transformation of
complex a differential equation into first order ones, simplifying the problem. Changing
different parameters of the function can also affect the results obtained, we were able to
obtain more accurate results decreasing “relTol” and “absTol”.

The results we have obtained were consistent between them and also correlates with what we
have expected about every case.

Finally, we have encountered a few problems when demonstrating the conservation of

mechanical energy in cases 3, 4 and 5. The energy graphics were not exactly lines, but have
small variations which decrease when we reduce the error tolerance. This is probably due to
the approximation made using ode45 function, which gave us slightly different numbers from
the absolutely accurate ones. However, is impossible to reach perfect results.