Energy Experiment

Newton’s first law of inertia states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. Last week in class we conducted an experiment on the use of energy. We conducted 8 runs in excel; 4 of the runs were with a constant power level with different amounts of mass, and the other four were with a constant mass and different power levels.

In graph one we discovered the acceleration versus power for a fixed mass. With the fixed mass, we hoped to discover results that showed the greater the power level (force), the greater the acceleration. After changing the power level from 45-60-75-100 with a fixed mass of .25 kg, our results were correct because the acceleration increased as the power level increased. Like predicted, the bigger the power, the bigger the acceleration; the bigger the mass, the bigger the discharge.

The next graph of Acceleration versus mass or a fixed power (force) proved that the more you increase your mass of an object, the longer it takes to lift an objet off the ground. The heavier something is, the longer it takes to be lifted. Or vice versa, the lighter something is, the longer it takes to hit the ground if you drop it from above. Kinetic energy and work are related; when work is done, there is a change in energy. (Kinetic energy being the energy of motion, and work being the process that transfers energy from one object to another).

The third graph we constructed was Battery Discharge versus Mass with a fixed power level. The battery should have drained when doing mechanical work energy. When we created a higher mass keeping the power level the same throughout, the battery discharge decreased.

Our fourth graph displays the Power Used (MGH/t) versus the Power Level. To discover the power, we did work/time. The larger the power level, the smaller the time. The greater the power of an engine or motor, the faster it can do work. As an example given in our lecture to help explain this concept, a 2 hp motor can do twice as much work as a 1-hp motor in the same time.

While conducting this experiment in class I thought it was easy to grasp the hang of, as well as using excel to compute our results. On the other hand, when I configured the results into graphs it became slightly confusing for me to interpret. After I looked back on Newton’s Law it made it much easier for me to analyze my results.