Theory
Energy forms one of the most basic concepts in the field of science. It is the ability with which a given system or performs its work. Energy has been subdivided into various forms such as mechanical and electrical energy. Mechanical energy can further be grouped into two distinct categories potential and kinetic energy. The energy that an object possesses by its position and interaction with another body is referred to as potential energy.
PE= mgh, where g stands for the acceleration caused by gravity.
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"Conservation Of Energy Lab".
Kinetic energy on the other hand refers to the energy that an object possesses when it is in motion.
Gravitational potential energy will always equal to kinetic energy if the gravitational kinetic energy is completely converted to gravitational potential energy.
During the lab, some sources of errors must have occurred and led to the skewness of the data. The main source of error for this lab is the air resistance. In as much as the amount of air, resistance would not have been enough to affect the results to that great extent, but it would have in some way slowed down the pendulum. There were also inconsistencies in the velocities, which could have been caused by the friction between the pendulum and the fingers. To avoid these errors, it is very important to have a device made in such a way that it is released at the same height always.
Conclusion
The primary focus of this lab is to try to understand the correlation between the potential energy and the kinetic energy. The movement of the pendulum simplified the understanding that the total energy increase with the increase in the height of the pendulum. The lab also makes it easy to understand that both potential and kinetic energy do possess the same amounts of energy given that they start from one original location.
