Week 5

 

1. The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did.
1. In lab this week we discussed why the surface and the falling object are affected during impact. We learned this through the egg experiment. We dropped an egg onto a surface that we designed using fake mulch and straw. We then dropped our egg at one meter. We noticed that when the egg fell it bounced off of the surface onto the hard floor. This is because of Newton's third law. Since the object exerts forces in an equal pair, it exerts it in the opposite direction. 
2. In the lab, we also looked at the energy lens. This is energy transferred from the egg to the surface. The surface flattens then bounces back after the egg (or object) lands on it. When the deformation happens on the surface it is potential energy, then energy is transferred back into the egg as kinetic energy. 
3. This lab showed us students how potential and kinetic energy work with each other. Gravity gives the egg potential energy when it is falling. So it transfers into kinetic energy when an object acts upon it.