Blog Post Week 4

 


1. This week in lab we continued to explore the question, how can we support play that is exciting but not dangerous? This week we investigated swings with the question, what affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? My group investigated the variable weight. Our question was, how does weight affect how long it takes a swing to go back and forth four times? We did three trials with three different weights. We did this by adding weights to a string that was connected to a stick. We made sure that we started the string in the same position each time. We timed each trial then calculated an average. We found that weight did not impact how long it would take a swing to go back and forth. There was not a large enough time difference to make it meaningful. 

2. In lecture, we learned what forces acted on a child on a swing. We found that the force of the rope does and the force of gravity, and possibly air drag. The force of gravity pulls straight down and the rope pulls in the direction it's pointed so it would point up along the rope. We then investigated how rider weight and the length of the rope/chain affects the period of a swing. I learned that weigh does not affect the period of a swing because gravity pulls on more massive children with more force, but more massive children are harder to accelerate. This is an example of Newton's Second Law (F=ma). I learned that the length of the rope/chain does affect the period of a swing. I learned this is because longer swings travel farther so it will take longer. 

3. In the textbook reading, I learned more about potential and kinetic energy. This energy is converted back and forth. You can see this in a pendulum that continues to swing back and forth. Eventually this will stop once other forces such as friction act on it. It was most helpful to define what potential and kinetic energy are since I have not worked with these recently. Potential energy is the energy held by an object that gives it capacity to do work and kinetic energy is the energy of an object due to motion. I will need more information on the types of friction that will stop a pendulum from moving. I am wondering if this is air drag. A question I am wondering is if there is an equation to determine how long something will swing depending on length. 

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