MAPUA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Physics

E201: WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

GAERLAN, Marc Erick S.
S
meg_khul8@yahoo.com/2011108047/CEM-3
meg_khul8@yahoo.com/2011108047/CEM
PHY11L-B3 Group 4

SCORE
Signed Data Sheet
=
(5) ____
Materials and
=
Methods(15) ____
Observations & Results
=
(10) ____
Graphs
=
(10) ____

Conclusion(15) =
____
References
=
(5) ____

Performance
=
(40) ____

TOTAL ____
(100) =

July 27, 2016

 E201: WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

Gaerlan, Marc Erick S.

School of Civil, Environmental, and Geological Engineering, Mapúa Institute of Technology
658 Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila City, Philippines
meg_khul8@yahoo.com

Materials and Methods

Figure 1. Fan Cart

Figure 2. Dynamics Track

 Figure 3. Photogates and Meter stick

Figure 4. Smart Timer

Other materials not shown in the pictures are: Spring Balance, Protractor, Iron Stand, and weights.
 Figure 5. Setting up of dynamics track and fan cart for Part I of the experiment

Figure 6. Members measuring the time travelled by the fan cart through the photo gates using the smart
timer
 Figure 7. Members measuring the height of the object

Figure 8. The group presenting the gathered data throughout the experiment using excel
 OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS

equation(1): W = Fcos ● S (1)

equation(2): = (2)
equation(3): W = wL(1-cos ) (3)

After getting the time travelled by the fan cart through the photo gates, we now compute for the
work using equation(2). We'll then use the work to compute for the average power using
equation(2). Below are the data we've gathered and computed for this part of the experiment.

Figure 9. Table 1. Determining the Force, Work and Power of the Fan Cart

Force of the Fan Cart = weight of pan + weight added = 0.294 Newtons
Trial Displacement (meter) Time (s) Work (joules) Power (Watts)
1 0.5 1.5393 0.1470 0.0955
2 0.6 1.7705 0.1764 0.0996
3 0.7 1.9487 0.2058 0.1056
4 0.8 2.1979 0.2352 0.1070

Sample Computation:

equation(1):
W=F ●S

we can drop the cos because we are conducting the experiment on a flat surface.

W = 0.294 N ● 0.7 m

W = 0.2058 Joules

equation (2)
=

.
=
.

= 0.1070 Watts

Notice that the Work increases the longer the track is and so as the Power. So we're expecting a
graph that would look like an almost straight line. And it's also safe to say that the Work and
Power is directly proportional to each other.
 In this part of the experiment, we had a hard time measuring the height of the object that varies
every trial. The fact that you can't see the center of gravity of an object which is where you need
to start/end the measurement makes it even harder.

Figure 10. Table 2. Work by a Force on a curved path

Length of string, L = 0.34 m Weight of mass, w = 0.5 kg Initial Height, ℎ = 0.13 m

Final height, Increase in Gravitational
Trial Force Angle, Displacement, X Work
height, h Potential Energy
1 1 0.132 0.002 10° 0.049 0.0253 0.0098
2 2.5 0.177 0.047 30° 0.181 0.2232 0.2303
3 4.3 0.297 0.297 60° 0.275 0.8330 0.8183
4 6.2 0.427 0.427 90° 0.301 1.6660 1.4453

Sample Computation:

equation(3):
W = wL(1-cos )

where:
w = weight of mass in newtons
L = length of the string in meters
= ℎ ℎ ℎ

w = 0.5 N * 9.8 /
w= 4.9 N

W = (4.9 N)(0.34 m)(1-cos 60° )

W = 0.8330 Joules

=w*h
= 4.9 N * 0.297
= 0.8183 Joules

After doing the experiment, we noticed that every time we increase the angle of string the Work
increases also. So it means it has a direct proportionality with each other and we expect to see a
semi straight line in the graph.
GRAPHS

Table 1 graph:

Work vs. Power

0.25

0.2

0.15
WORK

0.1

0.05

0
0.094 0.096 0.098 0.1 0.102 0.104 0.106 0.108
POWER

Table 2 graph:
Work vs. Gravitational Potential Energy
1.8000

1.6000

1.4000

1.2000
WORK

1.0000

0.8000

0.6000

0.4000

0.2000

0.0000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
GRAVITATIONAL POTENTIAL ENERGY
CONCLUSIONS

The first part of the experiment is simple, the only problem we encountered is the consistency of
the fan carts speed because sometimes the fan cart we used seems to wiggle and it affects
outcome though only in a slight way. The results of our experiment showed in Table 1 graph
states that Work is directly proportional to Power where as whenever Work increases Power also
increases. This relationship is clearly stated in the manual where Work is defined as the product
of force and its displacement, and Power is the time rate of doing a certain Work. So that means
we conducted the experiment right and obtained a good result. There are small rooms for errors in
the first part of the experiment which is only when the dynamics track is not balanced or when
the pan attached to fan cart is moving which can affect the speed of the fan cart.

On the second part of our experiment, we tried to find the Work of a certain mass (m) that is
moved along the arc (S). We had a hard time doing this part of the experiment as it requires us to
be very well coordinated with each other because one people can't do this alone. Getting height of
the mass is tricky for us because we can't literally see the center of gravity of the mass which is
where we'll cut the measurement so just assumed where it is and we marked it a tape so we can
be consistent with the measurements of the heights as we move the mass along the arc. As shown
in Table 2 graph, a diagonal straight line is formed the same ways as the first part of the
experiment so therefore Work and Gravitational Potential Energy is also directly proportional
with each other whereas whenever anyone of the two increases or decreases the other one will
increase or decrease as well.

In the computation part of the experiment, we didn't actually have trouble computing and using
the formula but we stumbled a bit in using excel. Problems we encountered are basic things such
as forgetting to include the gravitational constant to the computation and converting the angle
into radians unit. Other than that, we believe that we fully understood the concept and applied it
correctly together with the formulas given.

In conclusion with the experiment 201, we can say that we are able to successfully determine the
power of the fan cart by using the definition of work and the energy conservation principle, and
also we are able to compute the work for a motion a long a curved path. For future improvements
of the experiment, I suggest that members should carefully review the formulas being used to
minimize errors.

REFERENCES

(2014, January). Work, Energy, and Power. Retrieved from

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/energy