Answer the following questions in Notes on your handheld computer.
In Trials I and II, the cart has two forms of energy. The first, gravitational potential energy, is proportional to an object's height above the Earth. The higher an object, the more gravitational potential energy it has. When did the cart have the greatest potential energy? Why?
The second form is kinetic energy, also called energy of motion. It depends on an object's velocity. When did the cart have the greatest kinetic energy? Why?
Do you think the cart has as much kinetic energy at the bottom of the ramp as it had potential energy at the top of the ramp? Why?
Energy can also be stored in a stretched rubber band. It's another form of potential energy. If you "hang" a cart down a ramp with a rubber band, then let it bounce up and down, energy is going from (gravitational potential) to (kinetic) to (rubber band potential). Look at your data from Trial III. Draw the graph. Where on the graph is each kind of energy the greatest?
After the cart leaves the ramp, it slows down, losing its kinetic energy. Where does the energy go?
We often want to store energy for later use. The useful energy might not always be kinetic energy - it might be light from a bulb, or heat in a room. How many examples of this can you list? List the form of stored energy and the form of useful energy that comes from it?
