Day 1 (Monday Feb 27) – Mechanical Energy = Combined KINETIC + POTENTIAL energy in a system.  GPE = gravitational potential energy = the energy of something “waiting to fall.”  It has this energy because of its position.  GPE = mgh (m=mass in kg, g = acceleration due to gravity on earth, h = height in meters.  KE = kinetic energy = the energy of something moving.  KE = (1/2)(m)(v-squared).  Note that you must have BOTH mass and velocity to have kinetic energy.

Day 2 (Thursday March 1) – Quiz over Mechanical Energy. Loop lab:
You are sending hot wheels cars down a loop via gravity. You need to answer four questions:
1. What is the height of the a) loop and b) minimum height from which a car can be dropped to complete the loop?
2. What was the GPE of the car at launch?
3. What was the predicted velocity at the bottom?
4. How did the cars perform differently?

Day 3 (Monday March 5) – Conservation of energy lab.  In this lab, you will be asked to complete a DETAILED write up.  This will help you learn to define variables and test parameters when collecting data.  As we move into phase 3 of your research project, your notebooks are improving and you should be collecting VERY good data.  It will also help to think about where energy is going in a system where it does not SEEM to be conserved…