INSTITUTE OF SPACE

TECHNOLOGY

APPLIED PHYSICS LAB

EXPERIMENT: Work Energy Theorem

LAB REPORT: 02

SUBMITTED TO: MR. KHURAM ABBAS

Group: 05
Muhammad Tanzeel Ahmad (210501055)
Muhammad Hamza Shabbir (210501019)
Rao Muhammad Soban (210501057)
Muhmmad Shahzaib salman (210501038)
Muhammad Sohaib sanaan (210501005)
Sohaib Suleman (210501050)

Mechanical Section A
Introduction/Objective of Experiment.
In this experiment, we study the relation between Work and Kinetic Energy
when a cart is pulled by first a weak spring and then by a strong spring. We
compare the graphs of Kinetic Energy and Work done against the position
of the cart and then observe the pattern. When a body is displaced, the total
work done due to net applied force on a body is equal to the total Kinetic
Energy of the body theoretically.

Theory
Work is the measure of energy transfer that occurs when an object is moved
over a distance by an external force; where the direction of object moved
and direction of force must be same. Mathematically, WORK is the dot
product of force and total displacement of object.

WORK= Fd*cosθ , where Work is maxi when θ is zero.

The principle of work and kinetic energy (also known as the work-energy theorem)
states that the work done by the sum of all forces acting on a particle equals the
change in the kinetic energy of the particle. This definition can be extended to rigid
bodies by defining the work of the torque and rotational kinetic energy.

Kinetic Energy: A force does work on the block. The kinetic energy of the block
increases as a result by the amount of work. This relationship is generalized in the
work-energy theorem.

The work W done by the net force on a particle equals the change in the particle’s
kinetic energy KE:

Hence, we can write work-energy theorem as:

K (Change in Kinetic Energy) = Kf - K0
= ½ mvf2 - ½ mv02
= ½ m ( v2)

W total = KE = change in KE

Apparatus
Following apparatus is required to perform this experiment:

1. 550 Universal Interface

2. High resolution force sensor
3. Motion sensor
4. Physics Thread
5. Spring ( weak And Strong )
6. Laptop with Capstone Installed in it

Procedure

 We set the cart at a distance of 15 cm from the motion sensor at-rest position
on the ramp.
 Then we set the capstone on recording conditions and also set the stopping
condition to a measurement based on 60 cm so that the software
automatically stops the motion just before the cart hits the bumper.
 We released the cart and its motion was recorded on the capstone.
  We got two graphs, one for kinetic energy vs Position and the other for
Velocity vs Position.
 We defined the formula for Kinetic Energy in the calculator and input the
value of the mass of the cart measured at the beginning of the experiment.
 We then made a table with work done against the position in motion on a
second page and also added the graph of Force vs Position on this page.
 Afterward, we calculated the work done by using the built-in tool for
measuring the area under the curve on the Force-Position graph and
manually entered the values into the table
 Finally, on the last page, we plotted Work done and Kinetic Energy against
position on a single graph.
 The same procedure was repeated using a strong spring.

Calculation
According to Work-Energy theory,

W= Δ K.E

Graphs

Strong spring
These are the velocity vs position and kinetic energy vs the position graph
for the strong force and below there is the graph of force and position graph
for the strong force.
 Total work done on the cart = 0.48 J
Change in Kinetic Energy of the cart = 0.48 J
We observe that the total work done on the cart is almost equal to the
change in kinetic energy so we conclude that the Work-Energy theorem is
true.

Week Spring
These are the velocity vs position and kinetic energy vs the position graph
for the strong force and below there is the graph of force and position graph
for the strong force.

Total work done on the cart = 0.23 J

Change in Kinetic Energy of the cart = 0.23 J
We observe that the total work done on the cart is almost equal to the
change in kinetic energy so we conclude that the Work-Energy theorem is
true

Tables

Here’s the table of strong spring between the position and the work done

Here’s the table of week spring between the position and the work done
Graph

Here’s the comparison graph of the week and the strong force
Analysis and the Conclusion

It was observed through the experiment that the change in Kinetic

Energy differs very slightly from the total Work done because of
some random and systematic errors. As we can see from graphs of
weak spring and strong spring that work done in case of strong
spring is more as compared to that of weak spring.so the total
change in kinetic energy is also more and in case of weak spring
the work done is less so the total change in kinetic energy is also
less. Although the difference is insignificant, there surely are some
factors that work towards introducing a difference between the
change in K.E and work done. Hence, we cannot produce ideal
conditions in real life and there may always be some fluctuations.
All in all, the work-energy theorem does hold to be true when we
ignore those minor fluctuations. This means that the Work-Energy
principle is actually correct.

Question
Q1: Why do the graphs start off steep (at small positions) and then
become less steep?
At the start of experiment, there is less frictional forces acting so that’s why
acceleration is high. Since Force is directly proportional to acceleration
F=ma, force is also high. The gradient of work against position equals to
force. Since force is greater, that’s why the graph is steeper. The graph
becomes less steep at the end as the pass car's velocity declines, resulting in
a lower force. Because the force is minimal, less work is done per unit area,
and the graph becomes less steep.

Q2: What effects would decrease the Translational Kinetic Energy of

Cart?
The pass car translational kinetic energy drops at high speed, due to increase
in friction because of the stretched spring. As the speed of car rises,
frictional forces against the cart's relative motion also increases, resulting in
decrease in translational kinetic energy.

Q3: How well do the curves agree with equation (3) from Theory?
Work done and kinetic energy have almost same curves. This indicates that
the work done curve resembles the kinetic energy curve. There is frictional
force between the cart and horizontal surface due to carts motion, resulting
in a small accuracy despite that WORK ENERGY THEOREM is well
supported.

Q-4: Are there any positions where kinetic energy is larger than work
done? If so, how is this possible?
When we compare the graphs of kinetic energy and work done , we would
see that at some points , kinetic energy is more than work done. It is caused
by human error or due to the accuracy of apparatus like motion sensor,
springs or due to frictional forces because the passcar speed and applied
forces varies. But the total work done is almost equal to change in kinetic
energy.
Q-5: What equation governs the force with which the spring will add kinetic energy
to the Pass Car?

The kinetic energy and work done due to net force is following:
➢Change in kinetic energy = Final Kinetic Energy-Initial Kinetic energy
= ½ mvf^2 - ½ mvi^2

Total WORK DONE= Area under FORCE vs DISPLACEMENT curve.