BACKGROUND:
Consider the case of a a lab cart moving along a smooth (but NOT frictionless) track.
- The cart can be placed in motion by pushing a button (and something else you'll figure out pretty quickly)
- The cart has *built in* motion (displacement and velocity) and accelerometer sensors. They are very cool!
We'll be MOSTLY having what I call a 'sandbox' day today since it is a short day. You'll be working with your team to learn how the sensors work and explore the various types of data you can take with those sensors.
We're going to assume that energy lost to air friction is minimal. I did a wee bit of research and it appears that energy lost by a Vernier Lab Cart sliding across a smooth, Vernier aluminum track is on the order of a milliJoule (~.001 J).
Our eventual goal will be to account for specific energy lost due to several factors that your team will determine (we'll do that tomorrow).
Work with your team to suggest ways that energy is lost when a cart slides across a track, collides with a barrier and then bounces backwards in the opposite direction.
Work with your team to design an investigation where a Vernier Lab cart moves along a stationary track, collides with a stationary barrier and then rebounds from that collision back along the track.
NOTES:
A graph is neither requested nor required (That means DON'T DO A GRAPH!) since graphs are best at showing trends in changing data. Our goal here is to have clear and consistent data.
Please make sure to include ALL data you gathered in the lab in a data table. Since you will be doing calculations on that data, show the RESULTS of those calculations on that data table.
Be sure to show relevant averages. You will use the average data as a basis for your Discussions.
Once again, I will be looking for consistent data.