Energy Lab Group 2

 Data, Calculatons, Force Diagrams:

We did 3 different trials to get our uncertainty which will be in the results section.

Results:

The average efficiency with uncertainty was 72.4% +/- 0.65%. 

Analysis:

The average efficiency of the inclined track with uncertainty is 72.4% +/- 0.65%. The result does depend more on the velocity of the cart AFTER it hits the bumper.

The efficiency calculated from group 3 on the leveled track is 90.285% +/- 5.09%. This result shows that velocity after the cart hits the bumper still matters somewhat, but not as much compared to the inclined track.

Conclusion:

The efficiency of the magnetic bumpers on the inclined track is 72.4% +/- 0.65%. About 27.6% of the energy was dissipated on impact. The effect of friction did matter because it changed the value of the velocity before impact from 1.93 m/s to 1.40 m/s, so the efficiency increased.

Our value from the inclined track (72.4%) was somewhat lower than the efficiency calculated by the leveled track group (90.285% +/- 5.09%). The leveled track could be a better way to measure efficiency since the setup is simpler and there are many factors that can lead to uncertainties on the inclined track due to human error when measuring initial and final height.