P1 Aiming for 8

Student checkpoint follow-up

Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

P1 Conservation and dissipation of energy – Aiming

for Grade 8
Aims
You will complete investigations into balls that bounce and balls that make
craters in sand.
Using liquid and coins, you will model processes where energy is transferred
from one form to another. You will practise calculations involving gravitational
potential energy, kinetic energy, elastic potential energy, work done, power, and
efficiency. You will consider situations where energy is wasted, and how that
situation links to the idea of dissipation.
You will analyse data about different types of lamps and how the data links to
efficiency.

Learning objectives
After completing this activity, you should be able to:
 describe processes in terms of energy stores
 do calculations involving gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy,
elastic potential energy, work done, power, and efficiency; including changing the
subject of an equation
 apply what you know about power and efficiency.

Safety
Clear up any spillages of the liquid so they do not cause a hazard.
Equipment
Part 1
 Bouncy balls
 Tray of sand
 Metre ruler
 Digital balance (to measure mass of balls)
Part 2
 Four 250 ml beakers
 Coloured liquid
 Pieces of card, about 8 cm  3 cm to use as labels
 Elastic bands to secure labels to beakers
 Coins or counters
Part 3
 Graph paper
 Calculator

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 1
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

Task
Part 1: Energy conservation and calculations
When you drop a ball on the floor it bounces, but when you drop it into sand it
makes a crater.
A Design an investigation to find the fraction of gravitational potential energy
transferred to the surroundings on each bounce of a ball on the floor.
and/or
B Design an investigation to find the relationship between the drop height of a
ball and the diameter of the crater that it makes in sand.
You will need to devise appropriate methods to measure the height of the bounce
and the diameter of the crater.
Part 2: Modelling energy transfer and dissipation
Modelling is a very useful way to understand what is happening in a process
where you cannot see the detail of what is happening. This is how you could
model a ball falling to the ground:
 Step 1: Identify the store that has more energy at the start point – that is,
before the ball is dropped.
 At the start there is more energy in the gravitational store.
 Step 2: Identify the store that has more energy at the end – that is, just
before the ball hits the ground.
 At the end there is more energy in the kinetic store.
 Label beakers with the stores: gravitational and kinetic. Pour the liquid into
the one at the start. Then transfer the ‘energy’ to the store at the end.
 Think which other stores might fill up as well.
A Use the method described above to model energy transfers in the two
experiments in Part 1 of the Task.
B Another way of modelling energy transfer is to use coins or counters to
represent small ‘units of energy’. Work out a way to model energy transfers in
a process or device by just using the coins or counters.

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 2
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

Part 3: Power and efficiency

Light bulb technology has improved considerably over the last 20 years. You may
have noticed how many objects, like traffic lights, now use LEDs.
A Look at the table that shows the total power input of three different types of
light bulb required to produce different light intensities. Present this data on a
suitable graph.

Light intensity Power of incandescent Power of CFL (energy Power of LED

in lumens light lamp in W saving) light lamp in W light in W
450 40 10 7.5
800 60 15 10.0
1400 75 20 14.0
1800 100 25 18.0
2800 150 45 16.0

B Incandescent light bulbs are about 10% efficient. Use the information in the
table to estimate the efficiency of CFL and LED lamps.
Questions
Part 1: Energy conservation and calculations
1 List the different types of energy store, and ways of transferring energy
between stores.

(2 marks)

2 a Describe what we mean by ‘work’ in science.

(1 mark)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 3
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

b Explain why when you lift an object the work done is equal to the change in
gravitational potential energy, but when you push an object across a desk it is
not.

(6 marks)

3 a Compare the final energy stores between a ball which is dropped above
the floor and bounces back to a portion of its original height, and another
ball which is dropped and makes a crater in the sand below.

(3 marks)

b Compare the work done, both for the ball which is dropped above the floor and
bounces back to a portion of its original height, and for the other ball which is
dropped and makes a crater in the sand below.

(6 marks)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 4
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

4 a Explain how to calculate the speed of a ball just before it hits the ground if
it is dropped from a height of 1 m, stating any assumptions that you make.

(3 marks)

b Use your answer to part a to explain why the speed of a falling object does
not depend on mass.

(1 mark)

c State whether, in reality, the speed of the ball will be greater than, less
than, or the same as the speed calculated and explain why.

(2 marks)

5 A student drops a spring onto the ground and the spring compresses. The
mass of the spring is 0.25 kg and the spring constant of the spring is 1 kN/m.
a Complete the table. You will need to use the equation:

elastic potential energy (Ee)   spring constant (k)  extension2 (e2).

(3 marks)

Height dropped Gravitational potential Elastic potential Compression of

from in m energy, Ee in J energy, Ee in J spring in m
1.00
0.50
0.25

b State an assumption that you have made.

(1 mark)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 5
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

Part 2: Modelling energy transfer and dissipation

6 Describe how you modelled energy with the coins.

(3 marks)

7 For all of the processes that you modelled, some energy ends up in the
surroundings.
a Name two processes that transfer energy to the surroundings.

(2 marks)

b Explain why energy transferred to the surroundings is ‘dissipated’.

(1 mark)

c Explain why the energy in the chemical store of the petrol in the fuel tank
of a car that takes you to school is eventually dissipated.

(3 marks)

Part 3: Power and efficiency

8 Write down two equations that you can use to calculate power.

(2 marks)

9 a Complete the table by calculating the power. (2 marks)

Device Energy in kJ Time Power

shower 60 1 minute
refrigerator 4.8 1 day
low-energy lamp 252 7 hours
hairdryer 576 12 minutes

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 6
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

b Complete the table and calculate the efficiency. (4 marks)

Device Useful energy in J Wasted energy in J Total energy in J Efficiency

light bulb 5 25
kettle 500 2000
television 2500 2500
car 100 400

c Explain how you knew how to complete the middle three columns of
the table.

(2 marks)

10 Look at the graph that you plotted for Part 3 of the Task.
a Consider an incandescent light bulb, CFL, and LED that all provide a light
intensity of 1400 lumens. If an incandescent light bulb is 10% efficient calculate
the useful power output of the incandescent bulb.

(2 marks)

b i State and explain an assumption that you can make in order to be able
to calculate the efficiencies of the other two lamps.

(2 marks)
ii Calculate the efficiency of a CFL.

(2 marks)

iii Calculate the efficiency of an LED.

(2 marks)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 7
 P1 Aiming for 8
Student checkpoint follow-up
Name...................................................................... Class................... Date......................

c Suggest and explain a link between the graph and the efficiency of each lamp.

(2 marks)

d Suggest why it may not reduce your energy bills if you replace light bulbs
with energy saving devices.

(3 marks)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 8