Energy and Work

1. Obtain an air supply, bumpers, two gliders of varying mass, a velocity sensor, an air track, an aluminum block, and a scale (see Figure 1).
2. Place the lower-mass glider on the scale and record its mass.
3. Connect the air supply to the glider track and turn it on.
4. Place the aluminum block under the glider stand,close to the air supply. This will be the lowest-height configuration.
5. Place the glider at the top of the track and measure the height, h₁. The measurement should be with respect toits approximate center of mass.
6. Place the glider at thebottom of the track and measure the lower height, h₀.The differenceh₁ - h₀ should be the height of the aluminum block, but perform the measurements to verify.
7. Place the glider back on the top of the track, just above the leg and aluminum block, and release it from rest. Record its velocity v at the bottom of the track using the timing gates. Ensure that the velocity is measured with respect to the point where h₀ was measured. Do this five times and take the average velocity. Record this velocity in the appropriate box in Table 1.
8. Place another aluminum block under the glider stand. This will add 3.4 cm to the potential energy calculation. Repeat step 1.7.
9. Fill in Table 1. Calculate KE and PE for each run and compute their differences.
10. Repeat steps 1.2-1.9 with the heavier glider.

Figure 1: Experimental setup. The components include: (1) air supply, (2) bumper, (3) glider, (4) velocity sensor, (5) air track, and (6) aluminum block.