Sunday, September 9, 2012
Pulley Lab
Big questions:
1. How can force be manipulated using a simple machine?
2. What pattern do you observe regarding the relationship between force and distance in a simple machine?
In this lab, we created 2 simple pulleys that supported weights of different sizes and forces. In part 1 of this activity, we created a pulley with 2 (200g) weights that allowed us to lift one of the 200g masses from the table to a height of 10cm. Using the knowledge that we acquired last week, our table knew that it required 2N of force to lift the weight. Since we used the same amount of force we had to pull the same distance to lift the weight.
In part 2, we were challenged to build a second pulley using 2 different weights (100g and 200g) meaning that we would only use 1N of force.Because we cut the amount of force that we used in half, our table had to pull for twice the distance in order to lift the weight.
After completing this task and recording our data on the board, we noticed a pattern and learned that force and distance are inversely proportional, meaning that less force requires more distance.
What I learned from last week:
g=10 N/kg
m=200g or .2kg
F=Force of gravity or weight
F=gm --> F=(10 N/kg)(.2kg) --> F=2N
Real world Connection:
In my room, I have a window with a handle that must be rotated if I want to open it. Although the window only moves slightly for every rotation and I have to move my hand many times, I only need a small amount of force to open my window instead of using more force to get it done in a shorter amount of time.
*More force=less distance and less force=more distance
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Great job on this one!
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