A Energia Skate

PhET Interactive Lab: Energy Skate Park (NEW)

Instructions: Please go to the PhET website, use your mouse to hover over Simulations, and in the drop down menu that appears, click Physics. Scroll through the choices (they are in alphabetical order) down to Energy Skate Park. It is the new simulation to the left of the Energy Skate Park: Basic Simulation we used in an earlier lab.

Left click on the Energy Skate Park icon and then click the right facing arrow to start the simulation. To review the basics of the simulation, click the Intro icon and spend a few minutes there getting used to the buttons and controls.

After you are done, click the measure icon near the bottom center of your screen. You will notice that this new simulation has a measure function on it. Use the left mouse button to move the part of the measure tool with the crosshairs on it, over the top left red circle of the ramp. When the skateboarder passes over this point, you will be able to take energy measurements.

In this virtual lab, you will answer the following scientific question. How does changing the amount of gravity affect the amount of energy in an object?

Answer each of the questions below before starting the lab. Each answer is worth 2 points.

What is the independent variable from the scientific question above?

ANSWER:

What is the dependent variable from the scientific question above?

ANSWER:

If you brought a skateboard to other planets with different amounts of gravity and rode your skateboard down a ramp on each of those planets, would you have different amounts of energy on those planets and why (Please write an If…Then…Because hypothesis).

ANSWER:

In the scenario that you just wrote a hypothesis for, what would be the control variable?

ANSWER:

Make sure before you start the simulation to reset the skateboarder and then place the energy measuring tool over the upper left side red circle.

Also, make sure the Friction is set to none for the first experiment. In the drop down menu under the gravity setting; you will adjust the gravity for the Moon, Earth, or Jupiter when you complete the first experiment. Record the information you gather from the energy measurement tool in the data table below.

Remember: You can pause the simulation at any point so you can record your observations in the data table below. When you are ready, start the simulation and record your observations below.

DATA TABLE 1: Gravity VS. Energy (Complete data is worth 1point)

	Moon	Earth	Jupiter
Kinetic
Potential
Total

Reset the skateboarder and place the measuring tool near the bottom of the ramp over the red circle. Make sure the Friction is set to none again and restart the simulation. Record the information you gather from the energy measurement tool in the data table below.