Purpose To study the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy. Connections to What You Already Know About in Life Have you ever dropped a book or a dish and heard a loud sound when it hit the floor? What caused that? An energy conversion! Your object started with all potential energy, which converted to kinetic energy as it fell and then when it hit the ground and slowed down, all of that energy was converted to thermal energy of the molecules in the object and sound. Energy conversions happen all the time! Vocabulary Kinetic energy, potential energy Background The conversion of energy between potential energy and kinetic energy is a process that is observed throughout our daily lives. Any time an object falls from any height and speeds up as it falls to the ground, we are observing a transformation of energy. In this activity you will be observing the connection between the height of an object on a ramp, or the potential energy of an object, and the speed of the object after it has slid to the bottom of the ramp and all the energy has been converted to kinetic energy. Because the ramp is frictionless, all gravitational potential energy is converted to kinetic energy and not lost to friction or thermal energy. All of the mechanical energy In the beginning was stored In gravitational energy and since the velocity at the beginning was zero. the kinetic energy at the beginning was zero also. Pre-Lab Question 1. Where on the ramp do you think a block would have the most energy? At the top, somewhere In the middle of the slope, or at the bottom where the block is moving fastest?Height of the Speed (Via] Potential Energy Kinetic Energy Block (Y) (m) (m/s) Initial 20 m D m/'s 2,800 J DJ Middle 11 m 13.3 mis 5,390 J 4,422.25 J Bottom 0 m 19.8 mis 9,801 J 10. The ramp has been set at an angle of 45 degrees for all of the previous experiments. Now you will change the angle of the ramp and measure the energy of the block when released on different slope ramps. Reset the experiment 11. You can copy your first row of data from the first data table into the first row of the following data table. Now In the Parameters Ramp section change the angle of the ramp to the angle listed In the table and move the block down the ramp to the same y height that it was at in the first run. Click Start to run the experiment and record the speed at the bottom. Calculate the kinetic energy for that run. Reset the experiment and change the ramp again to the next listed angle. Repeat the experiment as described above. If necessary, Increase the length of the ramp to be able to place the sled at the same Initial height. Ramp Angle Height of the Block Speed at the Kinetic Energy (Y) (m) bottom (Viai) (m/s) 20 m 19.8 mis 9,801 J 20 m 10.807 m's 9.807 J 20 m 19.830 m/'s 9.830 J Your Choice: 30 20 m 19.275 m/s 9,075 J Questions 1. What do you notice about the quantities for Initial potential energy and final kinetic energy? 2. How did the kinetic energy change by changing the angle?3. How did the kinetic energy change throughout the course of sliding down the ramp? How did the total energy (kinetic and potential) change throughout a run? 4. Where is energy generally lost to as objects move In real life