On Friday February 3rd my partner and I did an energy experiment  involving a fixed pulley system, a set of weights, a ruler, and a Lego Mindstorm motor.

I admit I had a hard time with this experiment, especially the mathematical aspect and therefor only have an elementary grasp of the concept.  I know that a pulley is a simple tool and makes lifting things easier by reversing force.

Our instructions stated that “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.”  We were then asked to answer the following questions.

1.      Explore Newton’s 2^nd Law i.e.  by

1. Keeping the power level fixed and changing the mass.  Does the acceleration vary with mass?

Yes, the lighter the mass the faster the acceleration and vice-versa.

1. Keep the mass fixed and change the power level.  Does the acceleration vary with power level?

 

 

We then used Excell to analyze and graph our measurements.

 

	Mass	Acceleration (RPM/s)
	0.25	0.000192
	0.25	7.43E-05
	0.24	6.67E-05
	0.23	7.00E-05
	0.21	7.18E-05
	0.19	7.48E-05
	0.17	6.29E-05
	0.13	5.61E-05
	0.11	5.27E-05
	0.09	4.91E-05
	0.07	5.00E-05
	0.05	5.00E-05

 

	Speed(RPM)		Battery Discharge (m Mass (kg)				Power level		Time (s)		Acceleration (RPM/s)
0	0.196189	0	97	0	0.25	0	75	0	1019.426	0	0.000192
0	0.123084	0	97	0	0.25	0	75	0	1656.056	0	7.43E-05
0	0.111756	0	83	0	0.24	0	75	0	1674.784	0	6.67E-05
0	0.118649	0	56	0	0.23	0	75	0	1695.48	0	7.00E-05
0	0.123144	0	28	0	0.21	0	75	0	1716.152	0	7.18E-05
0	0.129696	0	42	0	0.19	0	75	0	1733.535	0	7.48E-05
0	0.111766	0	14	0	0.17	0	75	0	1777.528	0	6.29E-05
0	0.10444	0	41	0	0.13	0	75	0	1860.718	0	5.61E-05
0	0.099533	0	0	0	0.11	0	75	0	1888.821	0	5.27E-05
0	0.09382	0	166	0	0.09	0	75	0	1911.469	0	4.91E-05
0	0.097007	0	69	0	0.07	0	75	0	1939.717	0	5.00E-05
0	0.098248	0	42	0	0.05	0	75	0	1964.421	0	5.00E-05