Inclined Plane Lab Report

The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the kinematics of the motion of a cart bouncing on an inclined plane and its energy transformations due to various mechanisms. The position vs. time graph displays as the cart goes down the inclined plane, the position decreases because at position 0m, that is the stopper and therefore, as the cart goes toward the stopper it is getting closer to 0m. As the cart bounces back, the position increases because the cart is moving away from the stopper. This pattern continues to repeat until the cart comes to a stop. The velocity vs. time graph shows as the cart goes downward the velocity increases in the negative direction. When the cart goes toward the stopper that is the negative direction. When

The moment the cart bounces back is when the cart has the greatest velocity in the positive direction, which we acquired by analyzing the portion of the graph when the cart went up the inclined plane (positive direction) and taking the maximum point. This continued every time the cart bounced back and forth until the cart came to a stop. The acceleration vs. time graphs shows that the acceleration quickly increases right before the cart hits the stopper and then the acceleration decreases right after it bounces back. The peaks of acceleration gradually decreases until the cart reaches a stop. The position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs correlate because in the position graph the cart is going in a negative direction and then increasing towards the positive direction. Similarly, the velocity graph shows the velocity of the cart going in a negative direction and then increasing towards the positive direction. For example, right after the cart passes 3seconds; both the position and the velocity go in the positive direction and have

Before the cart is released there is gravitational potential energy (Ug) present because it is stationary and above the ground (stopper). During the moments when the cart is moving and going up and down, there is gravitational potential energy (Ug), kinetic energy (K), and internal energy (∆Uint). As long as the cart is above the ground, there is gravitational potential energy. Kinetic energy is present because the cart is moving up and down the inclined plane. Internal energy is present because friction is present between the cart and the inclined plane. Right before the cart meets the stopper, and after the cart encounters the stopper, kinetic energy and internal energy are both present. The moment while the cart is in contact with the stopper and the spring is compressed is the moment elastic potential energy (Us) is present. The total energy did not stay constant throughout the experiment because of the transformations of energies. When the cart was free and going down the inclined plane and the spring meets the stopper, energy is