Physics Roller Coaster Lab

Lab #4 is Roller Coaster and Conservation of Energy. Run the experiment and fill in the lab data sheet for submission. You are demonstrating to yourself how one form of energy stored in an object in the Earth's gravity field aka gravitational mechanical energy is converted to energy of motion aka Kinetic Energy. You are to show that the total energy (within exp. error) is conserved no matter what form the energy takes. UPDATE:, Check the World Menu on the toolbar of the IP Physics Lab program after you open the Roller Coaster File and make sure the gravity is set to 10m/s^2 for g with vertical checked. Also, check air resistance and set to zero until instructions tell you otherwise.BEWARE that when you change the air resistance to make sure you are choosing LOW resistance, note the units as shown in the instructions. Lastly, you will be required to change the mass. You do that by clicking on the mass and another box should open where you can input the mass. ANY changes must be done BEFORE you run the experiment please

Answer Sheet:

Lab 4

Data Tables & Short Answers:

Fill in the charts below:

Is total energy (T.E.) conserved in every case (within experimental error)? ______ yes ______ no [If not, where did the missing energy go?] ____________________________________________

What if the mass of the ball changed from 0.01 kg to 1.0 kg? Fill in the chart below:

Is total energy (T.E.) conserved in every case (within experimental error)? ______ yes ______ no [If not, where did the missing energy go?] ____________________________________________

What if the air resistance on the ball changed from 0.0 to 0.05 kg/m•s (change the mass back to the original value, 0.01 kg & go the “World” menu)? Fill in the chart below:

Is total energy (T.E.) conserved in every case (within experimental error)? ______ yes ______ no [If not, where did the missing energy go?] ____________________________________________________________________

Links to Files to run the Lab:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r7ei5z87xvz87tt/AAARKu9MM1qsGjoT-o2k-oRHa?dl=0

**Note: You need to have the interactive Physics program to run the simulation**