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Newton\’s Laws Of Motion: Force, Mass And Acceleration

Lets talk numbers….

Today we continued our research into the idea of motion, acceleration, and mass. To do this, we used a pulley system and weights attached to a motor that pulled the weights vertically to measure speed, battery discharge, mass, power level, time, acceleration, height, potential energy, and power used. This data was entered into a computer program and calculated in Excel. We changed the mass of the weights being used as well as the power level being provided to the pulley system. By doing this, we were able to calculate the potential energy being provided and the power used by the system. Using graphs in excel, we were able to see trends in the data that represents how mass and power affect acceleration and potential energy.

The graph to the left shows how when mass increases, the acceleration of the weights decreases. For example, it takes much longer for a eighteen wheeled truck to accelerate than it does for a sports car. The mass of the object requires much more force and power to get into motion.

The graph to the right shows how when more power is provided to the mass, the acceleration increases. For example, when you push a kickball with your hand, it accelerates much slower than when you kick the ball with your foot. More power behind a mass accelerates that mass much quicker.

The graph to the left demonstrates how when mass increases, the motor had to use much more power, thus draining the battery. For example, when you are driving by yourself, you use much less gas than when you are driving with four people. The more people in your car creates much more weight that the vehicle has to pull. By requiring more energy to move, it also requires more gas. In the experiment we conducted with the pulley and weights, the more mass we gave to the motor to pull, the more energy it required to pull it, and thus decreased more of the battery power.

The last graph to the right helps to further demonstrate my previous example. Power used (w) is determined by taking the potential energy (mass x gravity x height) and dividing it by the time it took to pull the mass. The higher we set the power level, the more power the system used (not a hard concept to grasp).

Overall this experiment helped us to explain concepts we already knew to be true: 1) The more mass you have, the harder it is to pull, creating for lower acceleration, 2) The more power you put behind a mass, the higher the acceleration, 3) The larger the mass, the more energy it requires to pull, creating for higher battery drainage, and 4) The higher the power level provided to the motor, the more power that is used.

Using simple systems such as these help to grasp concepts of acceleration, mass, power, and energy. Doing these projects in class are a great way to use real world examples to better understand concepts we use every day. Without the computer program we used in class, this experiment would prove to be much more difficult. It is fantastic that we have access to such a powerful tool. Not only was this software helpful, but Excel is a powerful tool to make calculations much more efficiently and effectively. Im looking forward to seeing what other things we can do with this program in the future.