COLLEGE PHYSICS LAB

(PHY 031L)

EXPERIMENT 3
WORK – ENERGY THEOREM

GROUP 4
Mancera, Lucas Damien F.
Manlapaz, David Roy
Manuel, Vence Nyll A.
Nambio, John Carlo
Nisperos, Patrick Aren
Pacino, Caesar Thomas
Pascual, Adrian Carlo

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 3
PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

WORK – ENERGY THEOREM

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this activity is to compare the total work done on an object to the change in kinetic
energy of the object. The force sensor is used to measure the variable force applied to a cart by a spring.
The Motion Sensor is used to measure the velocity of the cart as it is pulled by the spring. Capstone
records and displays the force as a function of position and uses the velocity measurement to calculate
the kinetic energy of the cart as a function of position. The total work done, determined as the area under
the force vs. position plot, is then compared to the kinetic energy. The analysis explores the effects of
dissipative forces.

THEORY

For an object with mass, m, that experiences a constant net force F net over a
displacement x = xf –x0 parallel to the net force (see Figure 1), the total work done is:

WTotal = Fnet * x

Figure 1 - Force producing work Figure 2 - Area under a curve

The net force is the vector addition of all forces acting on the object during the
displacement. If the net force varies during the displacement, then the total work done is
calculated as an integral:
xf

WTOTAL = Fnetdx .
xo

This integral is equal to the area under the curve on a force versus position graph (see
Figure 2).
According to the Work-Energy Theorem, a change in kinetic energy can only be produced
if work is done. The work done must be the combined effort of all forces involved (the net force),
that is, the change in kinetic energy is given by the total amount of work done. This yields the
Work-Energy Theorem:

ΔK = Kf - K0 = ½ mvf2 - ½ mv02 = WTotal = Area under F vs x curve. Eq. (1)

6-2 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 3
WORK – ENERGY THEOREM

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

To be able to calculate the amount of work done by taking the area under the curve on a force versus
position graph.

SIMULATION URL

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/cheerpj/the-ramp/latest/the-ramp.html?simulation=the-ramp
PROCEDURE

1. Note that gravity in this lab is 9.8 m/s2

2. Click on the file cabinet
3. Leave the position equal to 10 m (Note: this is not the top of the ramp).
4. Leave the angle at 10°

1-4:

5. Calculate the height above the ground at 10 m: _______

Sin = Opposite/hypothenuse
(10)(sin(10))= 1.736481777 m

6-3 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

6. The simulation will run when you select “frictionless.” Pause it just before the filing cabinet
reaches the bottom of the ramp.
7. Minimize the force graph, and open the energy graph.

6-7

8. What should the potential energy at the starting point equal? _____________ Explain how you
can calculate this value:

U = mgh
U = (100 kg)(9.8 m/s2)(1.736481777) = 1701.752141 J

I was able to calculate the value by using the formula for the potential energy. The potential
energy at the height of 1.736481777 m would be 1701.752141 J.

9. What should the kinetic energy at the starting point equal? _____________ Explain how you got
this value:

K = 1/2mv2
K = (1/2)(100 kg)(0) = 0 J

6-4 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

I was able to calculate the value by using the formula of kinetic energy K = 1/2mv 2. Since the file
cabinet is at rest, The v of the the potential energy even when calculated would be 0 J.

10. What should U and K equal at the bottom of the ramp? U = __________ K = ________

U = mgh
U = (100 kg)(9.8 m/s2)(0) = 0 J
K = 1/2mv2
K = (1/2)(100 kg)(-5.75 m/s) = 1653.125 J

The potential energy at the bottom of the ramp is 0 J because the object is moving. The kinetic
energy for the object at the bottom of the ramp is 1653.125 J. The potential energy of the object
at the bottom of the ramp is 0 J because it is in motion.

11. Calculate the speed of the filing cabinet at the bottom of the ramp:
𝑉 = √2𝑔ℎ

𝑚2
𝑉 = √(2)(9.8 )(1.736481777) = 5.833956019 m/s
𝑠

12. Use the distance it traveled down the ramp, along with the initial speed down the ramp, and the
time down the ramp (in the top right corner) to also calculate final speed. Is this value close to
the value you found above?
𝑑
𝑉=
𝑡

10
𝑉= = 3.194888179 m/s
3.13

The value that I got here vs the value the I found above is not close to each other.

13. Reset the simulation. Minimize the energy graph and open the work graph.

6-5 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

14. What does the work due to gravity equal before you run the simulation? -1701.75 J
Show how you can calculate this value:

Wg = (-100 kg)(9.8 m/s2)(1.736481777) = -1701.752141 J

15. If work due to gravity already has a value for the filing cabinet sitting at rest, what can we
assume happened to give it this value? (We assume it would be zero before we start the
simulation)

We can assume that since the filing cabinet is at rest, certain individual forces are acting on the
filing cabinet at the same time. The friction cancels the force of gravity parallel to the plane and
the normal force cancel the force of gravity as well perpendicular to the plane, therefore putting
the object at rest. In addition to this, the height and inclined plane are the factors to the fact that
gravity has a value that should let the filing cabinet travel down the ramp but it is unable to due
to the individual forces acting along with the force of gravity.

16. Calculate weight parallel (show work): __________________

We use Pythagoras to get the force parallel to the surface of the cabinet at the start of the
simulation.

Fgx = m∗g∗sinθ

Fgx = 100kg∗9.81 m/s2

∗sin(10)=170.35N

6-6 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

17. What distance would you multiply by weight parallel to get the work done by weight? What is
the work?
You must multiply by the distance traveled by the cabinet to reach that height, not by the height
itself. This is a 10m size, and the work will be W=170.35N10m=1703.5J. Approximately the same
as the simulation.

18. Click frictionless to run the simulation and pause it at the bottom of the ramp.

19. What is the work done by gravity?

Wg = (mg)(h)
Wg = (100 x 9.8)(0)
Wg = (980)(0)
Wg = 0

20. What must have happened to the box to give it this value?
The ramp has no friction therefore there is no work done on the object because force is actually
not applied to the object.

21. How does the work done by gravity on the box compare to the energies of the box (think about
the formulas we know)?
It should have been work done by gravity is greater than the energies of the box. Because if the
energies of the box are greater than the work done by gravity, the box will not slide down the
ramp.

6-7 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

GUIDE QUESTIONS
1. Describe a situation where the file cabinet moves as the force is applied to it, yet the force does
not work over a non-zero-time interval. How can this be? Set the simulation parameters and
check your prediction.
- If the displacement of the cabinet is zero and we all know that the force is work*Displacement
therefore the work is done by the force is equal to zero. When the cabinet is moving where
the starting and ending point is same, therefore in this case the displacement will be zero so
is work done. In simulation, the file cabinet can be move at 300 N Force applied having 100kg
in the file cabinet when the ramp angle is 0 and it takes 15.63s from -6m to 15m.

2. Since the force is constant, what can you say about the acceleration of the file cabinet?
- If we were going to define the equation for average acceleration, we can calculate the average
acceleration of an object over a while based on its velocity before and after that time. But if
we were going to solve the acceleration. Acceleration is equal to the net force acting on a
cabinet divided by the mass of the cabinet therefore if the force is 300N and the cabinet is
100kg we can calculate it with 3m/s^2. Therefore, we can say the acceleration of the file
cabinet is moving 3m/s^2

3. How much work did the force do on the file cabinet? There are several different ways to answer
this question; answer it in as many ways as you can. For example, you can use the magnitude of
the force, the kinetic energy readout, and the velocity readout for three different ways of
calculating the work. Are all your answers the same?
- There is a 6300J in applied work having a 300N applied force to move the cabinet that has
100kg mass. We calculated the work using the formula of kinetic energy (KE = ½mv^2) and
Magnitude of the force (w= F(s)) getting the same answers on both formulas.

6-8 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

PHYSICS 031 LABORATORY MANUAL_______________________________________________________

INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

After doing this activity, we have learned that there are ways to find a solution for the
value of work. With the help of the step-by-step videos, we eventually learned how to find
work done by gravity and was able to answer the different guide questions. We concluded
that for non-zero time, the work performed is zero if force is perpendicular to the
displacement. Acceleration of the block also constant by equation F = ma. We can slow the
velocity for the same amount of work if the force and displacement are the same. We also
learned that when there is no friction, there will be no work performed on the object
because force is not applied to the object.

6-9 MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA