Pulley Lab

The BIG Question? How can force be manipulated using a simple machine?What pattern do you observe regarding the relationship between force and distance in a simple machine?

 

In the pulley lab, we were asked to figure out how force can be manipulated using a simple machine. We created a pulley system for the lab. We found out that it takes 2 Newtons to life a brass mass 10 cm without the pulley system. With the pulley system, it only took about 1.22 Newtons to lift the same brass mass 10 cm. When we measured the string, it came out to be about 31 cm. With this information, we found out the force can be manipulated by the distance and the angle of the string to pull the weight.

Our next challenge was to have the force reach around 0.5 Newtons. It was a little tricky but, we were able to manipulate the pulley to reach about 0.554 Newtons using 29 cm of string. By graphing our data, we came to the conclusion that as the force decreases, the distance increases. There is an inverse relationship between force and distance. 

• Simple Machine trade off-distance
• Area of bar graph=energy-->the ability to do work
• work=transfer of energy by applying a force over a distance
• W=Fd
• W-->constant(energy)
• (Joules)=(N)(m)
• No matter how big the distance of the force is, you always use the same amount of energy

Real Life Connection-Elevators

It's a Monday morning. You're extremely tired but, you have to work. Imagine not having the option to use the elevator! You would have to walk up and down many flights of stairs each day. Your day would be 10x worst! The elevator is another version of a pulley system to take you up and down to get to any floor you desired.