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University of Bahrain
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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EXPERIMENT 1:WORK AND ENERGY
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DYNAMICS LAB REPORT

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Name:………………………JASSIM MOHAMMED ALI MANAPPURATH

Student I.D:………………....20140257...……………………………………...
Course No:……………….....Meng 263...……………………………………...
Section No:………………....01………………………………………………
Course Name:……………....Dynamics……………………………………...
Instructor:…………………..Dr. Mohammed Al- Qassab…………………...

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List of Contents
1. List of figures:. ............................................................................................................................ 3
2. List of tables:............................................................................................................................... 3
3. List of graphs:. ............................................................................................................................ 3
4. Introduction:. ............................................................................................................................... 4
5. Objective: .................................................................................................................................... 4
6. Apparatus used: ........................................................................................................................... 4
7. Theory: ........................................................................................................................................ 4
8. Procedure: ................................................................................................................................... 5
9. Results:........................................................................................................................................ 6
10.Calculations: .............................................................................................................................. 6
11.Discussion: ................................................................................................................................. 7
12.Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................ 9

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List of figures, tables and

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List of figures:
Figure 1 :Fletcher trolley apparatus:. .............................................................................................. 4
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List of tables:
Table 1:X and d values:. ................................................................................................................. 6
Table 2:Final Results ...................................................................................................................... 7

List of graphs:
Graph 1:.Displacement (X) Vs total energy (Etotal)......................................................................... 8
Graph 2:.Velocity Vs Time graph ................................................................................................... 8

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1. INTRODUCTION:
This experiment shows how the energy in a system is conservered by doing work on
fletcher trolley apparatus. There were three types of energy found during the experiment,
kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy and potential energy. If all forces present in
the system are conservative , we use work energy theorem to find total work done or
energy of the system.

2. OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this experiment is to study the concepts of work, energy and to erify the
laws of conservation of energy.

3. APPARATUS USED:
These include: a horizontal plane, holders, slotted weights, a string, a pulley, an ink
pointer, a long drawing paper, a tape, an ink bottle, and a fletcher trolley apparatus.

4. THEORY:
The fletcher trolley apparatus mainly consists of a trolley with mass m2 connected to
spring on one side and on other side is connected to mass m1 with the help of string and a
pulley. The trolley moves to and forth on the horizontal plane track freely as seen in
figure1.

Figure 1: Fletcher trolley apparatus.

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The experiment consists of a conservered energy system with kinetic energy , potential
energy and the gravitational potential energy, which is given by :
KE + Vg + Ve = Constant
1) The kinetic energy is the energy possessed by an object and is given by the equation:
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KE = 2 mv2
2) The potential energy in this system is mainly comes from the spring connected to the
trolley and is given by the equation:
1
Ve = Kx2
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3) The gravitational potential energy or the potential energy by weights is found from the
weight hung by the string connected to the trolley and is given by the equation:
Vg = Wh (where h = (H-x)).

5. PROCEDURE :
1. Level the track by means of the four adjusting screws so that the track is slightly

tilted downward, towards the pulley, the tilt being enough to overcome the friction

of bearings.

2. Find the spring contant "k" by loading the spring with different weights and

measuring the spring deformation.

3. Attach a sheet of drawing paper on the trolley by tape.

4. Attach the spring to the trolley. Attach weight holders to the free end of the string.

5. Apply suitable forces by placing slotted weights on the weight holders and hold the
car in equilibrium.

6. Put the vibrator in place and soak the pointer in ink.

7. Pull the vibrator and let it go the same time as the trolley until the waves are formed
by the pointer.

8. Take the readings from the waves formed on the drawing paper and do all the
calculations.

9. Write the displacements down and then find the height by subtracting the
displacement from it.

10. Then, find the kinetic energy and velocity of the trolley.
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6. RESULTS:
The time period of the viberation was obtained to be (T= 1/f = 1/8 = 0.125 s), which was
measured from the wave paper as the line for one complete oscillation. The original height
was found to be 0.522m. The displacements X0 and d0 ( average distances for velocities )
were found from the wave paper obtained during the experiment as seen in the Table 1.
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Table1: X and d values

X0 Value measured (m) d0 Value measured (m)

X1 0.089 d1 0.091

X2 0.137 d2 0.094

X3 0.183 d3 0.092

X4 0.230 d4 0.088

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The total mass of the system consists of the mass of the trolley which was about 2.4 Kg, the
mass of the 3 cylindrical blocks each with 0.355 Kg and the mass from the slotted weights
hung from the pulley which was about 1 Kg.
M= 2.4 + (0.355*3) + 1 = 4.465 Kg
H = 0.52 m (original height).

7. CALCULATIONS :
X1 = 0.089 m and d1 = 0.091 m.
The velocity will be determined from equation.
v0 = d0 / T
v1 = (9.1*10-2) / (0.125) = 0.152 m/s
The kinetic energy can be determined from equation.

KE = 1/2 mv2, where here the mass is the total mass of the system.

KE1 = 1/2 mv2

KE1 = 0.5 (4.465) (0.728)2 = 1.1831 J.

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The gravitational potential energy can be determined from equation.

GPE = mg Δh, where the mass is from slotted weights and Δh is the change distances in

ydirection.

GPE1 = mg Δh

GPE1 = (1) (9.81) (0.443) = 4.346J.

The elastic potential energy is determined from equation :-

Ve = 1/2 Kx2
Ve1 = 0.5(32.7)(0.089)2 = 0.1295J .
As from the equation KE + GPE + Ve = constant.
= 1.1831+ 4.3460+ 0.1295 = 5.658J.
Rest of the displacements were done by the same manner.
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Table 2: Final results

Displacements Δh = H-X0 Velocity
KE (J) GPE (J) Ve (J) Etotal (J)
(m) (m) (m/s)
X1 = 0.089 0.443 V1= 0.728 1.183 4.346 0.1295 5.659
X2 = 0.137 0.395 V2=0.752 1.126 3.875 0.3069 5.444
X3 = 0.183 0.349 V3=0.736 1.209 3.424 0.5475 5.181
X4 = 0.230 0.302 V4=0.704 1.106 2.963 0.8649 4.934

8. DISCUSSION:
In this section we will mainly discuss about comparison of total energy E with
displacement and about the changing acceleration of the system.
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a) Comparison of total energy E with displacement
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The Table 2 given above clearly shows us that the total energy E is almost the same. We
can also observe that the value of E is gradually decreasing as the displacement increases,
this is due to the loss in energy due to the presence of air resistance and friction.

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Displacement Vs Total energy Etotal

5.659
5.7
5.6
5.5 5.444

5.4
5.3
5.181
Etotal (J)

5.2
5.1
5 4.934
4.9
4.8
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
DISPLACEMENT (m)

Graph 1: Displacement (X) Vs total energy (Etotal )

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while speaking about energy, it is clearly evident from Table 2 that elastic potential energy
were increasing gradually from one position to another, while the gravitational potential
energy was decreasing.
This was due due to change in velocities and displacements. Both kinetic energy and
potential energy have been increasing due to increase in velocity and distance travelleved
as seen in Table 2, while gravitational potential energy has been decreasing since the height
was decreasing.
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b) The changing acceleration of the system

Velocity Vs Time
0.76
y = -0.013ln(x) + 0.7132
0.75
Velocity (m/s)

0.74

0.73

0.72

0.71

0.7
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Time(s)

Graph 2: Velocity Vs Time graph

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In the second part of the disscussion, we must see refer Graph 2 to study the acceleration of
a system. If the velocity - time graph obtained in Graph 2 was a linear function, then the
derivative of the function will be constant and therefore the acceleration will also be
constant.
As seen in Graph 2, the equation of the graph has a logarithmic function in it, which means
the derivative cannot be constant. This is mainly due to the various forces acting on the
system, such as the force of gravitational potential energy and the force of elastic potential
energy. The system will accelerate in the direction of the gravitational force. The main
factor that affects the acceleration is spring force that changes with displacements which
again makes it impossible to get a constant acceleration.

9. CONCLUSION:
To conclude, we proved the work - energy theorem and found the total energy of the
system almost same in all positions. Most importantly the concept of conservation of
energy which says that energy cannot be created nor destroyed but can change from one
form to another.
Finally how this experiment can be improved and what are the limitations of this
experiment?
As said in above disscussion, neglecting the friction can make drastic changes in the
readings, therefore friction must be considered and accounted so that the experiment can be
improved. The other way of improving the experiment is by introducing the photo gates
instead of ink which can give us more accurate results. Moreover the trolley must be leaved
at same moment of leaving the vibrator, if this is not done , the readings abtained can have
some errors.
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