“Work”

Noah Gaston

E1030L

CRN#=”47412”

Big Spring with 200g mass

College of Engineering

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

“11/2/2016”

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 Table of Contents

Summary p.3

Theory p.4

Apparatus p.4

Results p.5

Appendix

Data p.7

Sample Calculations p.11

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 Summary

This experiment was done to test the relationship between kinetic energy, potential
energy, and work. For part one, the apparatus consisted of the motion sensor on the floor with the
force sensor being held above it with a 200g weight. For part two, the apparatus consisted of the
motion sensor being placed 40 to 50 cm away and a large diameter spring hooked from the force
sensor to an anchor point. The motion sensor is used to see how far the force sensor is moved
with an amount of force measured by the force sensor against the force of gravity and the spring.
During part one, the object went from 0.46m to 0.98m over the course of 6 seconds using an
average force of 2.197N. During the second part, 0.28m over the span of 7.12 seconds increasing
work up to 0.144N*m, which varies from the calculated potential energy of the spring, whose
constant was 4.058 N/m, from 9% to 11% at different points. These variations might be due to
energy loss from friction and that the experiment was started with some tension already in the
spring.

3
 Theory

The amount of work done on an object is equal to the change in kinetic energy and the change in
potential energy. It can be calculated by multiplying a force on an object by its displacement.
Work is also a measure of energy transfer.

Apparatus

Dual-Range
Force Sensor

Figure 1

Motion Detector
Force Sensor
Force Sensor
Dual-Range

Figure 2

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 Force Sensor
Motion
Detector

Figure 3

Results

The results are on Tables 1-5.

Table 1

Part I
Time (s) Position (m)
Start moving 2 0.46
Stop moving 8 0.98

Table 2

Average force (N) 2.197

Work done (J) 1.142
Integral during lift: position vs force (N*m) 1.118
ΔPE (J) 1.0192
% Error integral & ΔPE 8.837

Table 3

Part II
Time (s) Position (m)
Start pulling 0.25 0
Stop pulling 7.37 0.28

5
Table 4

Spring Constant (N/m) 4.058

Table 5

Stretch
0-10cm 0-20cm 0-30cm
Integral (during pull) 0.018 0.072 0.144
(N*m)
ΔPE (J) 0.020 0.081 0.159
% Error integral & 10 11 9
ΔPE

6
Appendix

Data

Figure 4

Figure 5

7
Figure 6

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Figure 7

Figure 8

9
Figure 9

10
Sample Calculations

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