1. Gravity and Kinetic Energy Teaching Slides, 3.1
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Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy

2. Review force and gravity
What is the relationship between mass and weight?
What happens to the weight as you increase the number of marbles?
What does that tell you about the force on the end of the spring scale as you increase the number of marbles in the bag?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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3. Review force and gravity
Even though there was more force pulling down on the scale as you added marbles, you were able to keep the scale from falling to the ground. How did you do that?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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4. Review force and gravity
When you lift a bag of marbles, you are doing work and using energy. Energy-usable power that can be transferred or converted to different forms, but cannot be created or destroyed In this investigation, we’ll explore how energy is related to force, how we can measure energy, and how energy can be transferred.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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5. Review force and gravity
We will start by setting up some ramps and rolling marbles to test what happens in a collision. collision-when two objects crash together
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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6. Make first collision Test your ramps with the marbles.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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7. Introduce kinetic energy
Did you see any evidence of energy? What kind?
What is the name we use for motion energy?
What are some examples of things with kinetic energy?
What is moving in this experiment?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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8. Introduce kinetic energy
kinetic energy-energy of motion When you see something moving, it is evidence of kinetic energy.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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9. Introduce kinetic energy
The marble moving down the ramp is evidence of kinetic energy. During a collision, energy can be transferred.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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10. Introduce kinetic energy
Did you see any evidence that energy transferred during the collision between the marble and cube?
Where did the cube get its kinetic energy?
What happened to the marble after the collision?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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11. Introduce kinetic energy
The distance the cube moves indicates the amount kinetic energy that the marble transferred to the cube in the collision.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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12. Introduce kinetic energy
How could we explore this more?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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13. Introduce potential energy
Now we are going to think about another form of energy. Potential energy-the energy stored in the position of an object
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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14. Introduce potential energy
Which book has more gravitational potential energy?
What is the force that will act on these books once I let go?
In our ramp system, where would the marble have the most potential energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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15. Focus question
G&KE 3.1
How is potential energy related to kinetic energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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16. Discuss variables What are variables in an experiment?
Variables-any factor that can be changed
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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17. In your group, discuss this next question.
What variables of the marble-ramp system could we control to explore the focus question?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy

18. Discuss variables
How can we test the variable of marble-release height?
What variables do we need to control for this experiment?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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19. Discuss variables
How can we test the variable of mass of marbles released?
What variables do we need to control for this experiment?
What would happen if we changed the height and the number of marbles at the same time?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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20. Develop procedure
One important variable to control is the reference point for how we release the marbles. If one group measures from the front of the marble, and others from the back of the marble, we won’t be able to compare results. As a class, let’s all measure from the front edge of the marble.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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21. Develop procedure Teacher master F, Marble-Release Reference Point
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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22. Develop procedure Notebook sheet 13, Marble-Ramp Data
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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23. Standardize cube position
What does the symbol Δx mean?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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24. Collect data Begin your experiment and collect and record your data.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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25. Discuss results
Review notebook sheet 13 to answer the following questions.
What is kinetic energy?
What is potential energy?
How does a marble get potential energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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26. Discuss results
Write “Potential-energy indicator” on the first data table above the “Marble-ramp position” column.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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27. Discuss results
What is the force that caused the marble to move higher and gain more potential energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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28. Discuss results
What is the force that caused the marble to roll down the ramp?
Does the marble ever have kinetic energy? When?
Does the cube ever have kinetic energy? When?
What did we use to measure how much kinetic energy transferred to the cube?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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29. Discuss results
Fill in “Kinetic energy indicator” on the first and second data tables above the “Average Δx” columns.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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30. Discuss results
Fill in “Mass in marbles” on the second data table above the “Number of marbles” column.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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31. Homework
Create graphs of your results, one for the variable of marble numbers, and one for the variable of marble height.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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32. Discuss energy transfers
Notebook sheet 14, Marble-Ramp Analysis
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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33. Discuss energy transfers
How does the marble gain more potential energy?
What happens to kinetic energy as you increase potential energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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34. Discuss energy transfers
More potential energy from a higher ramp position means more acceleration as the marble rolls downhill, so the marble is moving faster (with more kinetic energy).
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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35. Discuss energy transfers
Where does the kinetic energy of the marble on the ramp come from?
What happens to kinetic energy as you increase mass?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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36. Summarize energy transfers
Where did the energy come from to lift the marble to the top of the ramp?
The energy of lifting transferred to what kind of energy in the marble sitting motionless at the top of the ramp?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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37. Summarize energy transfers
When you let go of the marble and it moved down the ramp, the potential energy transferred to what kind of energy?
When the marble hit the cube, what kind of energy transferred to the cube?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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38. As the cube stopped moving, where did the energy transfer to?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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39. Introduce friction
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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40. Introduce friction
When the cube stopped moving, its energy transferred into heat energy. You didn’t feel heat, but as the cube moved across the table, there was friction between the two surfaces, and a small amount of heat energy transferred to the cube and table as they rubbed together.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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41. Introduce friction
Friction-a force that opposes the motion of one surface across another.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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42. Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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43. Refine relationship
In which position does the marble have the greatest potential energy? The least?
In which position does the marble have the greatest kinetic energy? The least?
What happens to the potential energy and kinetic energy of the marble as it rolls down the ramp?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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44. Refine relationship
The potential energy of the marble is greatest at the top of the ramp and least at the bottom.
The kinetic energy of the marble is least at the top of the ramp and greatest at the bottom.
The potential energy transfers to kinetic energy as the marble rolls down the ramp.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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45. Refine relationship
The kinetic energy of the marble is the greatest at the bottom of the ramp, which means its speed is the greatest.
Explain why the marble’s speed would be the greatest at the bottom of the ramp.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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46. Observe pinball action
Lay the spring scale horizontally on a table, compress the spring, and place a target cube against the plunger of the spring scale.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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47. Observe pinball action
Materials for each group: • two spring scales • two target cubes • two rulers
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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48. Observe pinball action
Explore how the movement of the target cube is related to the amount of compression of the spring scale.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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49. Discuss findings When the cube moves, what kind of energy is that?
Where did the energy come from to move the cube?
How did the spring get the potential energy to do that?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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50. Apply to real world
When a car is moving with a higher speed, what can you say about its kinetic energy?
When a car with more kinetic energy hits an object, what can you say about the energy transfer in the collision?
Which would do more damage, a car hitting a wall at 60 km per hour or at 10 mph?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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51. Apply to real world
Think about the experiment with multiple marbles. When a vehicle with greater mass, like a truck, is moving at the same speed as a vehicle with smaller mass, like a car, what can you say about their kinetic energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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52. Apply to real world
When a vehicle with greater mass hits an object, what can you say about the energy transfer?
If they were going the same speed, which would do more damage when hitting a passenger car, another passenger car or a truck?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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53. FOSS Science Resources
Read “Potential and Kinetic Energy” on page 37.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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54. Review vocabulary
Spend a few minutes reviewing the vocabulary for this part. Update the vocabulary index and table of contents in your notebook.
collision
energy
friction
kinetic energy
potential energy
variable
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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55. Answer the focus question
How is potential energy related to kinetic energy?
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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56. Review notebook entries
Review your notebook entries with a partner. Ask questions, give each other constructive feedback, and revise your entries if need be. This is a good opportunity to discuss how the concept of energy helps you think about collisions.
Gravity and Kinetic Energy Course, 3.1: Potential and Kinetic Energy
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