Potential Energy Of A Trolley When It Travels Down A Ramp

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Factors that Affect the Gravitational Potential Energy of a Trolley When It Travels Down a Ramp

In this investigation, I will be investigating what factors affect the gravitational potential energy of a trolley when it travels down a ramp.

GPE = mgh Gravitational Energy = mass x gravity x height

The formulae above shows that three things affect gravitational potential energy: mass, gravity and height. If the mass is increased then the GPE will increase. If the mass is decreased then the GPE will decrease. This also applies for the height. If the gravity was increased then the GPE would also increase. However, it is not possible to change the gravity because gravity is always …show more content…

This is because if the height number is bigger in the formulae, then the GPE will be bigger. The GPE is stored in the trolley as the result of the gravitational attraction of the earth for the trolley. There is a direct relationship between the GPE, the mass of the object and also the height of the object. The higher the trolley is elevated the greater the potential energy it will have.

When using the kinetic energy formula, it is possible to see that as the height of the ramp increases so does the potential energy. This is because the mass, gravitational field and the height of the trolley are all related and their combined product is the potential energy. So if the height is a smaller number than the potential energy will decrease and if the height was a bigger number the potential energy will increase. This means that the gravitational potential energy of an object is directly proportional to its height above the zero position(in this case, the table), a doubling of the height …show more content…

The higher the trolley on the ramp, the quicker the trolley will pass through the light gates meaning that the trolley is travelling at a faster rate. The lower the trolley on the ramp, the slower the trolley will pass through the light gates meaning that the trolley is travelling at a slower rate.

The first law of motion states that balanced forces mean no change in velocity. When the trolley is moving, it is at a constant velocity because the thrust and drag factors acting on it are balanced. For the trolley to be moving at a constant speed there must be zero resultant force. The second law of motion states that a resultant force means acceleration. This means that if the thrust and drag acting on the trolley are different, then the trolley will accelerate or decelerate. This acceleration can take 5 different forms: starting stopping, speeding up, slowing down and changing direction. If there is an unbalanced force, then the trolley will accelerate in that direction. The size of the acceleration is decided by the formula f=ma. M is mass, a is acceleration and f is always the resultant force.

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