The Gauss Gun as a model of Exothermic Reactions Gauss Gun IN the "Gauss Gun" experiment, a metal sphere (0) is allowed to roll towards three other metal spheres attracted by a strong magnet. Sphere 0 starts off with a small amount of K.E. and moving to the left (state A). Because it is attracted to the magnet, it speeds up, hits the magnet and sphere 3 goes flying off to the left, ending up with more K.E. than sphere 0 had initially (state D). State A State B State C State D 3 1. In the initial state, sphere 3 is only weakly bound to the magnet-sphere cluster and can be easily pulled away with only a little work. Sphere 2 has a stronger bond-it is more difficult to pull it away from the magnet, and sphere 1 requires the most work to pull off of the magnet. With your group, sketch a graph of the magnetic potential energy as a function of distance. Make sure that this reflects an attractive force. P.E. X Adapted from the work of E.F. Redish and collaborators. Published at compadre.orgerusph and licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA. Phys 1335 Page 2 2. Another way to represent the energy in this process is to use bar graphs. On the axes below (or on a whiteboard recreation), sketch energy bar graphs that show the magnetic P.E. and the K.E. of each of the four spheres in all four states shown above. In State A, sphere 0 has a bit of K.E. and is just starting to roll towards the magnet; in State B, sphere 0 is just about to hit the magnet; in State C, sphere 0 has come to a rest and sphere 3 has just been kicked off the set; and in state D, sphere 3 has flown off and is as far away from magnet as sphere 0 started. Use different colors or patterns to distinguish the K.E. bars and the P.E. bars and label these. State A + State B + State C + State D 4 Energy Energy Energy Energy 3 2 1 0- 3 2 1 0 - 3 2 1 0 3 2 1 0- 3. Comparing initial and final states, the process "0 + (123) - (012) +3" looks sort of like an exother- mic chemical reaction. There's more "thermal energy" (energy of motion) in the final state than in the initial. Use your diagram to help you explain what the source of this energy is. Explain why this could be a reasonable model of an exothermic reaction