Name: Delia Smith and Sienna Molen Date: 11/22/21

Student Exploration: Energy of a Pendulum

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: conservation of energy, gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, pendulum, potential energy,
velocity

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. A toy car is about to roll down a track, as shown 2. A pendulum consists of a weight that is
below. At what point do you think the car will suspended from a pivot. At what point will the
reach its greatest speed? pendulum below move fastest?

✏️ Mark this point on the image. ✏️ Mark this point on the image.

3. What do these two situations have in common?

These two situations have a lot of potential energy build up.

Gizmo Warm-up
Objects have several types of energy. Potential energy depends on an object’s position or shape. Kinetic
energy is the energy of movement. The Energy of a Pendulum
Gizmo allows you to explore how the amounts of these types of
energy change for a pendulum in motion.

1. On the DESCRIPTION pane, change the initial angle (θ) to 40

degrees. Click Play ( ). How does the velocity (speed and
direction) of the pendulum change as it swings from right to
left?
It gets faster as it nears the middle and then it slows down.

2. On the image at right, ✏️

mark the point where the pendulum
swings fastest with an X. Then, circle the two points where the
velocity is zero.
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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
● Click Reset ( ).
Potential and
● Check that m is 0.5 kg, L is 2.0 m, g is 9.8 m/s2,
kinetic energy
and θ is 40 degrees.

Introduction: An object that is a certain height (h) above the ground has the potential to do work, and
therefore has potential energy. This type of potential energy is called gravitational potential energy
(GPE, or PE for short). The unit of energy is the joule (J).

Question: How are potential and kinetic energy related?

1. Observe: Select the BAR CHART tab. Click Play and observe. What do you notice about the
gravitational potential energy (PE), kinetic energy (KE), and total energy (TE)?

The PE (Potential Energy) and KE (Kinetic Energy) are constantly increasing and
decreasing, the total energy remains constant.

2. Measure: Click Reset. Turn on Show numerical values.

A. What is the gravitational potential energy? 2.3

B. What is the kinetic energy? 0

C. What is the total energy? 2.3

3. Measure: Click Play, and then try to click Pause ( ) when the pendulum is in the middle of its
swing. (This might require several tries.)

A. What is the gravitational potential energy now? 0

B. What is the kinetic energy now? 2.3

C. What is the total energy? 2.3

4. Analyze: At any given time, what can you say about the total energy of the pendulum?

At any given time you can say that the total energy of the pendulum is going to be 2.3.

This illustrates the principle of conservation of energy. In a closed system, energy can be
converted from one form to another, but the total amount of energy remains the same.

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5. Interpret: Click Reset. Select the GRAPH tab and turn on the PE and KE checkboxes. Click Play,
wait about 4 seconds, and then click Pause.

What is the relationship between potential and kinetic energy?

The two energy’s are opposites, causing potential energy to transform into kinetic
energy, and kinetic energy converts into potential energy, and then back again.

6. Match: The graph below shows the potential and kinetic energy curves for a pendulum.
each pendulum image with the corresponding letter on the graph (A, B, or C).
✏️ Label

7. Apply: Suppose a pendulum starts with a potential energy of 100 J. Assuming the pendulum has a
height of 0 m at the bottom of its swing, what is its maximum kinetic energy? Explain.

The maximum kinetic energy is 100 joules. Considering the pendulum as an isolated
system, the kinetic energy will be conserved. We know that it starts at rest with 100
Joules worth of potential energy. We also know that when the pendulum crosses the

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 bottom point at 0m it has potential energy of 0 J implying its kinetic energy is 100 J,
which is its maximum.

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity B: ● Click Reset.
● Set m to 1.0 kg, L to 1.0 m, and g to 1.0 m/s2.
Calculating
(Note: You can set the slider values directly by
potential energy
entering values into the text boxes.)
● Set θ to 0 degrees.

Question: How is gravitational potential energy calculated?

1. Observe: Select the BAR CHART tab, and check that Show numerical values is on.

What is the potential energy of the pendulum? 1

2. Gather data: Record the potential energy of the pendulum for each of the following sets of values
for m, L, and g. Record the height (h) of the pendulum as well. (Because the pendulum’s pivot is 2
m above the ground, the height is equal to 2 meters – L meters.)

m (kg) L (m) h (m) g (m/s2) PE (J)

2
0.5 kg 1.0 m 1 6.0 m/s 3
1.0 kg 1.2 m 0.8 2.0 m/s2 1.6
2
0.3 kg 1.1 m 0.9 1.0 m/s 0.3
2
0.2 kg 1.5 m 0.5 3.0 m/s 0.3

3. Find a pattern: What is the relationship between the potential energy of a pendulum and the values
for mass (m), height (h), and gravitational acceleration (g)?

The potential energy is equal to the mass, height, and gravitational acceleration being
multiplied together.

4. Make a rule: Write an expression for potential energy based on m, h, and g. Test your expression
using the Gizmo.

PE = mgh

5. Apply: What is the potential energy of a pendulum with a mass of 0.7 kg, a height of 0.3 m, and a
value of g equal to 9.8 m/s2?

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 2.058

Check your answer using the Gizmo. (Hint: Set the length of the pendulum to 1.7 m.)
Eight

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
● Select the DESCRIPTION tab.
Kinetic energy
● Set m to 1.0 kg, L to 1.3 m, g to 1.0 m/s2, and θ to
and velocity –
40 degrees.

Question: How is potential energy converted to kinetic energy?

1. Observe: Select the BAR CHART tab, and check that Show numerical values is on.

A. What is the height of the pendulum? 0.7

B. What is the potential energy of the pendulum? 1

C. What is the kinetic energy of the pendulum? 0

2. Observe: Click Play, and then click Pause when the pendulum is at the bottom of its swing.

A. What is the approximate height of the pendulum now? 0.75

B. What is the potential energy of the pendulum? 0.7

C. What is the kinetic energy of the pendulum? 0.3

3. Calculate: The formula for kinetic energy is as follows:

✏️
Based on this formula, what is the velocity (v) of the pendulum at the bottom of its swing?
Show your work.

KE= ½ mv^2

Velocity = 0.77

Conclusion: In a brief paragraph, explain how potential energy is converted into kinetic energy.

Potential energy can transfer into other forms of energy like kinetic energy. A ball held in the air, for example, has
gravitational potential energy. If released, as the ball moves faster and faster toward the ground, the force of
gravity pulling it down will transfer the potential energy to kinetic energy.

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