Instructions
In this week’s hands on activity, we were able to explore and analyze Newton’s 2nd Law of motion. The acceleration a of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force F and inversely proportional to the mass m Force = mass x acceleration (F= ma). Further more, using the same experiment, we were able to understand the law of conservation of energy which states that energy may neither be created nor destroyed. Therefore the sum of all the energies in the system is a constant. In this matter, we could have a better definition of the meaning of velocity and acceleration and the role they play in physics. Last but not least, we concluded the experiment gaining knowledge on the effects of Power which is measured by the total amount of Work divided by the total amount of time.
Setting the power level of the motor will set the torque on the motor wheel which will result in a particular force used to lift the masses. The higher the power level, the greater the force
I gathered data by keeping the power level fixed and changing the mass, data showed a variation on the acceleration with a changing mass.
I could noticed that there was an inverse relationship. The greater the mass, the less acceleration. Less mass would equal a greater acceleration at a fixed power level.
On the other hand, keeping the mass fixed and changing the power level, showed similar effects in the variation of acceleration.
using excel to plot the gathered data, I recorded the Potential Energy used. Thus, I was able to proof the law of conservation of energy:
, with h as the height that the center of mass of the weights travel.
With the power level fixed, the battery energy drainage changes as a function of mass. Since the energy of the battery is converted to the potential energy of the masses, in other words, the greater the masses, the greater is the battery drainage (more Work needed to move the masses).
After several trials I was able to calculate the average power used by the motor which equals
,
For changing mass, I plotted 
as a function of the constant power level of the motor.
The slope shows how as mass decreases, the Power used decreases as well, meaning that less work is required to move the masses.
