Name _________________________________________________Date ______________ Period__________

Kinetic Energy & Potential Energy Lab

Procedure:
Select two types of balls (golf ball and ping pong ball) to measure the amount of potential and kinetic
energy.
2. For each ball, drop it from a height of 1 m. Measure the height of 3 rebound bounces and record their
values. These measurements will not be exact but make them as precise as possible. You may have to drop
the same ball several times to get all of your measurements.
3. Based on the height of each ball at the beginning of each bounce, calculate the PE of the ball and record this
value. Using your calculated PE, calculate the impact velocity of the ball for each bounce and record this
value.
4. Calculate the amount of energy lost from one bounce to the next based on the amount of KE each ball
impacts with.
1.

Type of Ball _______________________

Bounce
number

1
2
3
4

Height of
bounce in
meters

PE

1
2
3
4
Work:

KE

PE= mgh

Impact
velocity
KE= () mv2

1m

Height of
bounce in
meters

1m

Energy lost
due to
friction

Type of Ball _______________________

Bounce
number

Mass of Ball_______________

Mass of Ball_______________

PE
PE= mgh

KE

Impact
velocity
KE= () mv2

Energy lost
due to
friction

Name _________________________________________________Date ______________ Period__________

Analysis:
1. Was the amount of energy lost consistent from one bounce to the next? Was it consistent from one ball to
the next? Explain why or why not?

2. What forms of friction are causing the loss in energy?

3. What are your main sources of error in this lab? For each source of error, state how it could be fixed to
make the lab more accurate.

4. How did the mass of the ball affect its PE and KE? How did it affect its impact velocity?