<h3><strong>Work, Force, and Energy!</strong></h3>
<p>Imagine you have a toy car and you want to race it across the floor. To do that, you need to give the car a push. That push is an example of <strong>force</strong>. But did you know that force is also what makes a ball go high in the air or what makes a toy train go around a track? Force is all around us, and we use it every day!</p>
<p>Now, when you push the toy car, it starts moving. And as it moves, it has something called <strong>kinetic energy</strong>. That’s the energy of motion! The faster the car goes, the more kinetic energy it has. It’s like the car has fuel in it, and the more fuel it has, the faster it can go!</p>
<p>And when you push the toy car up a hill, it has something called <strong>potential energy</strong>. That’s the energy it has stored because of its change in position. Like a roller coaster at the top of a big hill, the car at the top of a ramp has stored energy because it is higher up. And if you let it go, it will roll down the hill, turning that stored energy into kinetic energy! </p>
<p><em>⭐ <u>Think about it like this:</u> You have two apples, one on a kitchen table and one on top of the roof of your house. Both are sitting untouched but if something were to push either one, which apple has the <strong><u>potential</u></strong> to hit the ground harder? The one on the roof because it has more of a distance to cover as it falls to the ground compared to the one on the table. When the apples fall, their potential energies change to kinetic energies because they are going from an unmoving state to a state of motion. We can assume that the movement, or kinetic energy, of the roof apple is greater because it will most likely smash on impact, whereas the table apple will probably roll around on the floor.</em></p>
<p>So, force makes things move, energy is what makes them move faster, and <strong>work</strong> is the amount of energy that makes things go a certain distance. Do you want to race your toy car now? Understand these concepts and you’ll be a pro-racer!</p>
<p> </p>
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<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Demonstration</strong></h3>
<p>First, assemble a long ramp to start on the floor and end with the ramp on a higher elevation, propped up by a few books. Use the car launcher or your hand to push the car forward and make the jump over the books.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/c3oxj6mfq4mgxtnfbfpoqttot811/Forces+PK+Set+Up.png" style="width: 600px; height: 429px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>Slide the ramp support into the track</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/u037qxrlm75f396hm8ol6dj50d2l/Forces+PK+Ramp.png" style="width: 300px; height: 199px;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p>
<p>Since the car starts on the floor, it has no potential energy and only has kinetic energy when the force from the launcher makes the car move forward. In other words, the work and energy from your hand transferred to the kinetic energy in the car. In this scenario, the only way to get the car to make the steep jump is either with a lot of force, or more potential energy.</p>
<p>So how do you increase potential energy? Place the car on top of a desk to be stationary. Is there energy here? There is, but it’s invisible energy because it has the potential or stored energy from its position, or distance from the ground. When you push the car off the desk, this demonstrates how the potential energy is transferred to kinetic energy.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/pk6t3qlgwa8csqi5oi490w32yds5/Forces+PK+Set+Up+2.png" style="width: 576px; height: 540px;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Kinetic and Potential Energy</strong></h3>
<div style="padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/810743959?h=f37167ef82&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" title="PE vs KE (Clay lesson)"></iframe></div>
<script src="https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js"></script>
<p style="color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-style: italic;"><em>Click the video to play!</em></p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Now It's Your Turn!</strong></h3>
<p>Try with toy cars driving down tracks at different heights to observe how much energy they have to make a dent on a piece of clay. The purpose here is to predict and investigate which car will make the largest dent on the clay! Make sure you have a notebook or a piece of paper and a pencil handy to record your findings.</p>
<ol>
<li>You might want to gather more books or find a way to elevate the starting height of the track. Since these cars are traveling really fast, someone can record a video to watch what happens more slowly. </li>
<li>Now, find a way to stop the cars at the end of the track, like placing it against a wall or a heavy book. </li>
<li>Roll up 3 identical pieces of clay and flatten them a bit.</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/keive30p5k5bf0qa9tot0rilx7me/Forces+PK+Clay.png" style="width: 400px; height: 201px;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li>Place 1 piece of clay at the end of the track. </li>
<li>Now, cut a straw into approximately 3-4 pieces and use tape to securely attach the straw to the top of the car, so the straw is poking out in front of the car. This way, you will be able to tell the depth of the dent that the straw made on the clay. </li>
</ol>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/udta185j29ym3v3ktk9478oboxt0/Forces+PK+Clay+2.png" style="width: 284px; height: 300px;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Observations</strong></h3>
<p>In your notebooks, designate a space to create a table for your 3 pieces of clay or for every trial you did. This way, you can compare the effect of each height on the dent made on the clay. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/r8p4h39aa83ynrc38s4ia67hpku0/Forces+PK+Clay+3.png" style="width: 600px; height: 289px;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p>
<p><img alt="" src="/api/storage/uploads/legacy-images/7daqz8ausnclqy0oz8cvda29ndog/Forces+PK+Table.png" style="width: 800px; height: 237px;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<h3><strong>Conclusion</strong></h3>
<p>Which car made the largest dent? Explain your reasoning with evidence.</p>
