Science kinetic energy



Grading Rubric is at the end of the document.



Objective / Topic: Utilizing the materials below, design an experiment that will determine if there is a relationship between the mass of a cart and the cart’s kinetic energy.



Materials: 

    1 ramp(not all groups will use a ramp) 1 cart or toy car, 1 block OR a stopwatch, steel cylinders or round cylinders, other weights (to add mass to cart), meter stick, masking tape.(Not all materials need to be used. I also have extra materials to use if you choose to do so.)


1.  Before designing the procedure, answer these questions: 



  • What is the purpose of your experiment?   

The purpose of this experiment is to test the effect of mass on kinetic energy.



  • What is the dependent variable?  (This is what you will measure. Choose one: Speed of cart OR distance the block moves.)
    The dependent variable is the speed of the cart.



  • What is the independent variable? (This is what you will change.)

The independent variable is the mass of the cart.



  • What do you think will happen?  

What I think will happen is that the speed will increase as we add mass to the cart.



  • What variables will you keep the same? (Where will you release the car from on the ramp?)

The variables we will keep the same is how far back we will release the toy car.



  • What variables will you change? (Think about what this lab is about.)

The variables we will change are how we increase the mass of the cart



  • How many trials will you conduct?  

We will conduct four trials in our lab.



  • How will the data you collect help you form a conclusion?  

Our data will help us form a conclusion by knowing if the toy car goes faster and faster the kinetic energy also increases.



  • How will you record your data? 

We will record our data in a data table.



  • 2. Write out a procedure for your experiment. (Make sure to make a numbered list) Refer back to previous labs.

Things to remember - You need to use different masses and you need to have more than one trial.



  1. What we will do first is gather all of our materials

  2. We will set up our meter stick

  3. Make sure our stop watch is set up ready

  4. We will figure out how far the distance the toy car will go back

  5. We will release the car from 100m and time how long it takes for it to do mass

  6. We will repeat these steps

  7. For our second trial we will add more mass

  8. Then we will repeat the steps 2-5

  9. Then we will add another mass to the car

  10. Repeat steps 2-5 for another time




3. Make a data table that has space for the data you expect to collect and record based on your procedures. Look back at our last lab (Speed and Kinetic Energy) to help you design a data table. 



Data:

Effect of Speed with how much mass we add

Independent variable (You change this to measure its effect on the dependent variable)


Dependent variable (This changes depending on the independent variable)

Average

(sum trials 1 - 5)/5)

(cm)

Trial 1 (cm)

Trial 2 (cm)

Trial 3 (cm)

Trial 4 (cm)




Mass1

1.56s

1.77s

1.79s

2.09s


1.80s



Mass 2

2.02s

1.56s

1.29s

1.09s


1.49s



Mass 3

1.02s

2.16s

1.69s

1.59s


1.62s





CLAIM: As you increase the mass of a moving object the kinetic energy also increases.



EVIDENCE:We can prove this with our data table. When we added one mass in the cart the average speed was 1.8s then when we added. Then when in Mass two we added one more mass and the average speed we got was 1.49s. And for Mass three we added one more mass and got an average of 1.62s. We took these numbers and put it into a division problem. The averages were the denominator and numerator is 100cm. We did that for each average and we got 55.6cm, 67.1cm, and 61.7cm. This shows that it changes each time. So this shows that the mass amount also changes the speed and kinetic energy the cart will have.



REASONING: The amount of kinetic energy depends on the amount of mass and speed. The amount of kinetic energy depends on the object's mass. An object with more mass has more kinetic energy. This explains why increasing the mass of an object can increase the kinetic energy.