17 - April - 2016 Magnetic Potential Energy

James Okamura
Alejandro Rodriguez

April 17, 2016

Introduction
In this lab, we wanted to test that conservation of momentum applies to this system. We have this system in which acts like an air hockey table that will act like a frictionless surface. So when we put a cart and give that cart a push, it will glide down to the edge of the system and bounce back due to the magnetic repulsion caused between the magnetic on the end of the cart and on the system.

In this lab, we first got a phone app that can measure degrees the system is raised from the horizontal, and place it flat from the horizontal.

Next, we raise the system some degrees, turn on the system and gently push the glider so that is slides down the ramp and get push back by the end of the magnetic repulsion and let the cart glider comes to an equilibrium distance. We record the degrees of how much the system was raised and the distance the cart glider has traveled back due to the magnetic repulsion. We repeat this process at least another 4 times and record the distance from the end of system and degrees. We then convert the angle from degrees to radians and then use that to calculate the force.

In this next part of the lab, we attached an aluminum reflector on top of the cart and weighed the whole cart. 

Next we placed the cart relatively close to the end of the ramp and turned on the air. We ran a motion detector. We then determine the relationship between the distance the motion sensor reads the distance we measure between the two magnets, 

We then set the motion to record 30 measurement per second. Then we created a new column for this separation by magnets measured by the motion detector. 

We then start with the cart at the other end of the cart, start the detector and push the cart with a gentle push.

We then made a graph that had the work done by the magnets and the kinetic energy. 

The above graph shows the energy caused by the magnets and the kinetic energy. When you add the energy of both these graphs, you can see the total energy, the energy conserved by the system. 

In this lab, I learned that energy is conserved by the system. That whatever energy you start out with is what you should end with unless there's an external force ( in this case there was none). I learned how we can calculated the work done by the magnets by using a free body diagram.