Within my first experiment in contemporary science our first lesson was about distance, velocity, and acceleration. My partner Raul and I created the Lego Mind storm VI which would travel a certain length at a certain time when programed. This experiment has been recently examined in my past posts. However, this week the lesson was on force, work, and energy. The virtual instrument (VI) can do many actions such as use sensors, drive, pull, light, etc. It was interesting to see how this device can be programed to not only drive, but also function as a pulley. Within this experiment we had the VI pull a heavy amount of weights. Each trial we would reduce the weight amount by 20 increments. As the experiment continued we discovered that as the weight decreases the battery discharge decreased along with the battery output. However, what increased was the speed of the weights being pulled and the time. An important fact about this experiment was that if the power level was kept the same the acceleration would be larger. Throughout the experiment we explored Newton’s 2nd law F=MA Force=Mass and Acceleration. As F+ (force)(increases) A+ (acceleration)(increases) We also confirmed that as Mass decreases the force remains the same and acceleration increases. However, if force decreases acceleration also decreases. As we collected data we used the formula force x mass = acceleration and noticed that the smaller the mass the smaller the battery discharge. Here is an attached URL of the chart with data my partner and I created and collected throughout the trials that proves our summary of the pulley experiment.

BatteryDischarge