Name:ThomasPetrie

Power Lab

Goal: To calculate Power output of a person in a real-life scenario

Theory:

Power is the rate at which “work” is done, or energy is transferred. When something has

a high-power output, they are “consuming” a lot of energy at a fast rate. A flashy and expensive
sports car would have a considerably high-power output, as they tend to be able to go from rest

to high speeds in short periods of time. Similarly, something with a low power output, such as an

analog wristwatch, has a low power output, as they need very little energy to keep running for

extended periods of time.

People can also have an extremely high-power output if they train for it. One such

example of these types of people are powerlifters. Powerlifting is a sport where individuals try to
lift as heavy a weight as possible in three different types of lifts: squats, bench presses and

deadlifts. It normally involves the athlete attempting to achieve their highest possible weight for

a single lift of their barbell, or their “one-rep max”. While the end-goal to powerlifting is to

achieve a very high weight one-rep max, training to get bigger or stronger does not start with

powerlifting. Instead, it starts with generating a high-power output during your workout with

high reps and high speed, not necessarily high weight.

Pre-Lab Questions:

1) In the space below, draw an LOL Diagram for a lifter before and after a deadlift. A

picture and chart have been provided below to assist you.

System/Flow

Eath
Energy (J)
Energy (J)

person

0
barbell
0
M's

Final
Iniital

a
work

2) In the space below, write down the equations for both Work and Power. Then, define

all of the variables for each of these equations.

W Fox cos 0

F I

Materials:

Gym equipment (Weights, Bar), Stopwatch, meterstick

Procedure:

1) To establish height “h”, have lifter hold a barbell at the top/lockout of a deadlift. Use

a meterstick to calculate the height above the ground. Then, use the meterstick to

calculate the height the barbell sits above the ground while it is resting on the floor.

2) Have lifter load barbell with a weight they are comfortable completing 5 reps with.

Record the mass of the barbell below. (Remember to account for the fact that the

bar is generally ~20 kg)

3) Have lifter complete 5 reps with this weight. Record the amount of time this took

below.
4) Have lifter load barbell with a weight close to their “one-rep max”. (Remember that

lifter may be cold and likely wearing school clothes, so it will likely be lower than

their actual one-rep max) Record the mass of the barbell below.

5) Have lifter complete one rep with this weight. Record the amount of time this took

below.

6) Repeat Steps 1-5 with other lifters. Compare results.

Lifter (Name) Height (m) 5 rep (kg) 5 rep-Time (s) 1 rep (kg) 1 rep-Time (s)

Jake 142.88kg 7.05s 206.39kg 1.75s

Connor 52m 102.06kg 7.18s 142.88kg 1.43s

Brady 53m 1020615 7.245 124.88kg 1.36s

Abizz som Giang 6.74s 83.91kg 95s

Imbas 50m 83.91kg 6.55s 115.67kg ais

Analysis: Wm F

Lifter (Name) 5 rep Work (J) 5 rep Power (W) 1 rep Work (J) 1 rep Power (W)

Jake 814.425 115.52W 1,176.425 672.24W

Connor 530.715 73.92W 742.985 519.56W

74.68W 486.66W
Brady 540.925 661.865

494.63W

Abize 342.945 50.88W 469.95

419.555 64.05W 578.355 635.55W

Post-Lab Questions:

1) Who output the most work based on the weight they lifted?

Jake outputthemost work

2) Who was the most powerful (highest power output)?

Jakealso had the mostpower

3) What was the best indicator for high power? (Weight, speed or reps) Why do you think

that was?

The best indicator for high power was a combination of heavy weight and speed. This is
best exempli ed through Jake, who lifted the most weight and in turn was the most

powerful. I think this is true because the more weight you have will give you a high power

up until a certain point. This is proved true through Imbas' lift, where he had one of the

lightest lifts, but exerted the second most power due to his speed

4) On youtube, look up a powerlifter doing a one-rep max for a deadlift. Calculate their

power output. How does it compare to our lifters?

Eddiehall Eddie hall has a much more signi cant work output. Even

Work3,000W though he was much slower than our lifters for time in his

height bn power 833.3J

max, his sheer weight allows him to be more powerful

weight 500kg

time 3.6seconds

5) Were there any sources of error in this experiment? If so, how would they have affected

our data and how could we minimize this error in the future?

The two sources of error that could be present is the measurement of the height of the lift as

well as the time it took to do each lift. These would be due to human error, but on a minimal

scale. They would marginally a ect the data because our height and speed measurements
would be slightly o . In the future, more people can time and measure in order to minimize the

margin of error. There could also automatic timers implemented, but we do not have those

facilities at our disposal.