EXPERIMENT 201

WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

Romar King D. Celebre, 2011104475, BS CEM-2
School of Civil, Environmental and Geological Engineering
rkdcelebre11@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
The 1st experiment is all about how work, energy and power are related to each other. A fan cart, smart
timer, and a track were used in order to define work and power as well as the energy conservation
principle. Computation was also done on the work of a motion along a curved path produced. Measuring
the initial force and recording the displacement and the time is the first step in knowing the work and
power. As the fan cart moves horizontally, its power does not differ much in values and as the
displacement gets longer the work done gets bigger. And work and power also obtain in displacing curve
path.

KEYWORDS
Displacement
Energy
Joules
Watts

1. INTRODUCTION
The concepts of work, power and energy are among the most powerful ideas in the physical sciences.
Their most important application is in the field of thermodynamics, which describes the exchange of
energy between interacting systems. In addition, concepts of energy carry over to relativistic systems and
quantum mechanics, where the classical versions of Newtons laws themselves no longer apply.
What is work? In physics we say that work is done on an object when you transfer energy to that object.
If one object transfers energy to a second object, then the first object does work on the second object.
Work is the application of a force over a distance. Lifting a weight from the ground and putting it on a
shelf is a good example of work. The force is equal to the weight of the object, and the distance is equal to
the height of the shelf.
For a body moving along

W = F . s

s , displacement with a constant force

, work can be defined as:

F

equation 1

The SI unit for work is J, Joule which is equal to 0.7376 ft.lb in British System.

is not parallel to displacement, only the component parallel to the displacement

For instance that F
s , is related by:
can only affect work. The angle between F

W =Fscos

equation 2

When force is in the same direction with displacement which is the maximum, work is simply:
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W =Fs

equation 3

It is related to the magnitude of the vector dot product of force and displacement. Thus, by analysis, for
angle is 900, force is perpendicular to displacement. Therefore, W=Fscos(90 0)=0.
For Energy can be defined as the capacity for doing work. The simplest case of mechanical work is when
an object is standing still and we force it to move. The energy of a moving object is called kinetic energy.
On the other hand, Power, which is another term in physics, is the rate of time at which work is done.
Power is a function of time unlike in work which is a function of displacement. Similarly, power is also a
vector dot product of vectors force and velocity. It is given by the equation:

lim dW
W t
P=lim
=
equation 4
dt
t t

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

There will be two parts for the first experiment. For the first part, we need to compute for the work and
power of the cart. The needed materials for this are fan cart, dynamic track, photogates, weights and
smart timer. We needed to be extra careful in handling the materials especially the fan cart when we rotate
the fan with its wooden blades and the smart timer. First we set up the materials by putting the dynamic
track horizontally on the table and made sure that any of its side is inclined and at zero degrees to
minimize errors in the experiment. We connect the fan cart and the mass hanger using a string.
As we started, we use the method of trial and error in
determining the force exerted by the fan. Add
weight on the mass hanger and turn on the fan cart
with its fan facing the side of the mass hanger, if the
cart still moves forward it means that we need to add
more weight on the mass hanger, until the fan cart
will not move from its location and record the
reading as its force. Afterwards as for the work and
power we removed the string connected to the mass
hanger and positioned the 2 photogates for the
measurement of the displacement. Every trial has
different displacement. With the use of the smart timer we can now record the time traveled of the fan cart
from the 1st to the 2nd photogate. And we compute for the work and power.
For the second part of the experiment, it is the work by a force on a curve path. A bottle shaped weight
was tied on a string and the other end of the string was tied on the top part of the iron stand. Initial height
of the mass and the length of the string connecting the iron stand and the object were recorded. Repetitive
pulling the mass using a horizontal force was done. The force can be obtained using the spring balance.

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It
in
is

is important to do horizontal pulling to minimize errors. It is also done

order to take the full account of the force exerted. As we pull it, height
increasing. The final height on each pull was recorded as well.

3.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

For the 1st part of the experiments, here are the datas we gathered and
the computed values of work and power.

Table 1. Determining the Force, Work and Power of the Fan cart.
Force of the Fan Cart = 0.343 Newtons
Trial
Displacement, S
Time, t
Work
1
0.45 m
0.9651 sec
0.15345 joules
2
0.50 m
1.0449 sec
0.17150 joules
3
0.55 m
1.1131 sec
0.18865 joules
4
0.60 m
1.2156 sec
0.20580 joules

Power
0.15993 watts
0.16413 watts
0.16948 watts
0.16929 watts

The sample computation on how we obtain the values of the work and power.
For Trial 1, displacement is equal to 0.45m, and time is equal to 0.9651 seconds. In getting the value of
work, get the product of the displacement and the time.
W = (0.45m)(0.9651sec) = 0.15435 Joules
In getting the value of the power, the obtained value of work will be divided with the value of time.
Power = 0.15435 Joules = 0.15993 Watts
0.9651 sec
From the computed values, we can see that an error has been done because the values of the power is
different from one to another. We should expect that the power is constant. It is because the fan cart is
moving at a constant velocity and a constant force.

Work-Displacement Graph
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0

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Work-Displacement Graph where x is the displacement and y is the work.

This graph shows that as displacement is increasing, the work done by the fan cart is also increasing.
For the 2nd part of the experiment here are the datas we gathered and the computed values.
Table 2. Work by a Force on a Curved Path.
Length of string, L = 0.315 m
Weight of mass, w = 2.94 N
Trial
Force
Final
Increase in Angle
Height
Height
1
2N
0.16 m
0.053 m
30o
2
2.5 N
0.167 m
0.060 m
36o
3
3N
0.716 m
0.069 m
46o
4
3.5 N
0.203 m
0.096 m
52o

Initial Height, ho = 0.107 m

Work
Gravitational
Potential Energy
0.1241 Joules
0.1558 Joules
0.1769 Joules
0.1764 Joules
0.2828 Joules
0.2029 Joules
0.3559 Joules
0.2822 Joules

The sample computation in increase in height, work, and gravitational potential energy.
In getting the value of the increase height, subtract the value of the initial height on the final height.
h = 0.16m 0.107m = 0.053 m
For the value of work, multiply the value of the length of the string, the weight of mass and (1-cos)
Work = (2.94N)(0.315m)(1-cos30o) = 0.1241 Joules
And the gravitational potential energy is computed by getting the product of the weight of the mass and
the increase in height.
PEg = (2.94N)(0.053m) = 0.1558 Joules
For the second part, error may all come from human assumptions such as measuring.

Work

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

Increase in Height, h

The graph where the x is the increase in height and y is the value of the work.

4. CONCLUSIONS

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The experiment aims to determine the power of the fan cart by using the definition of work and the energy
conservation principle. The other objective is also to compute work for a motion along a curved path.
I conclude that power is related to work. Power is the rate at which work is done. It is the work done on
an object divided by the time being considered. While work only considers the force that acts to cause a
displacement, power considers the time it takes for the force to cause the displacement. Power can also be
described as force multiplied by velocity, since velocity is displacement divided by time.
The use of the method in first part of the experiment will give you accurate result. In oppose to the second,
which may give us unreliable data. It is due to second part has many measuring steps, which leads us to
make assumptions and uncertainties.

5. REFERENCES
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Engineering/Courses/En4/Notes/particles_work_energy/particles
_work_energy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_%28physics%29
http://www.edinformatics.com/math_science/work_energy_power.htm

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank my groupmates for being cooperative during the experiment and for helping me
with the parts that I cant understand. For our professor who helps us in understanding more the idea of
the experiment. For the laboratory assistant, who let us to borrow the materials needed and for orienting
us on how to proper care of the materials. And lastly to my family who always there to support me.

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