Pyramid Lab

Purpose: This lab helped us understand the relationship between force, distance, and work. To understand these relationships we used a ramp, a mini cart that holds 500 g of weight, and a device called LabQuest2 that reads the force of the mini cart being pulled up the ramp. We tested 3 trials on this Pyramid lab and graphed each trial to show the "work" that's being put in.

Key Information:

  In trial 1 we first measured the stack of books, at the end of the end of the ramp, from the top of the stack of books till the bottom(table). Then, with our device we pulled the mini cart up the ramp til the end of the book on top of the stack. We recorded the flat rate of the graph and took its mean for the force. As a result we got .541 N, 1.53 m for the distance of top of the stacks of book to the bottom. and .828 J for the work.

In trial 2 we moved the stack of books a little closer to the middle of the ramp, making the angle of the ramp bigger. Same as trial 1, we measured distance of the stack of books to the bottom and then pulled the mini cart until we reached the stack of books, then recorded its mean as the force. As a result for trial 2 we got .654 N, 1.12 m, and .735 J.

In trial 3 we moved the stack of books even closer, probably in the middle of the ramp. We measured the top of the stack of books to the bottom. Afterwards we recorded its mean as the force. For this last trial we got .714 N, 1.03 m, and .735 J. 

                            

Key Conclusions:

The relationship between force, distance, and work is W= F x d. We also discovered that work is a form of energy that is conserved or stays the same. From our observations we figured out that the closer we moved the books the less work it takes to pull the mini cart up the ramp and more force requires less distance.

Real Life Connection:

A good example is a uhaul truck. These trucks have a ramp to help move heavy things onto the moving truck. These trucks have a fairly short ramp, meaning that it takes less work to go up them. Like in our lab the ramp of the uhaul truck have the same patterns of our ramp in our Pyramid Lab. If this were a longer ramp then it would take less force to push up the ramp. If it were a shorter ramp then it would take more force to push up the ramp.