Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Energy Conversion in a System

Vocabulary: energy, gravitational potential energy, heat energy, kinetic energy, law of
conservation of energy, specific heat capacity

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo .)

A battery contains stored energy in the form of chemical energy.

1. What are some examples of devices that are powered by batteries? ___________________
phones
_________________________________________________________________________

2. What different forms of energy are demonstrated by these devices? ___________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Gizmo Warm-up
Energy constantly changes from one form to another, but
in a closed system, the total amount of energy always
remains the same. This concept is known formally as the
law of conservation of energy.

The Energy Conversion in a System Gizmo allows you to

observe the law of conservation of energy in action. In the
Gizmo, a suspended cylinder has gravitational potential
energy. When the cylinder is released, the gravitational
potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, which
causes the stirrer in the water to spin.
25º
1. What is the initial temperature (T) of the water? ___________________________________
the
2.
t3emperature
Click Play ( ). What happens as the cylinder drops? _____________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
is higher
3. 29.69 ºC
What is the final temperature of the water? _______________________________________

4.
because the
Why do you think the temperature of the water increased? __________________________
fan produces
_________________________________________________________________________
thermal
energy
2019
 Activity A:
Get the Gizmo ready:
Potential energy
 Click Reset ( ).
and height

Introduction: The raised cylinder in the Gizmo has gravitational potential energy (GPE)
because gravity can cause the cylinder to drop. When the cylinder drops, its kinetic energy is
converted into heat energy, which raises the temperature of the water.

Question: How does the cylinder’s initial height affect its gravitational potential energy?

1. Predict: How do you think increasing the cylinder’s height will affect the final temperature of

the water? ________________________________________________________________

2. Gather data: Make sure the water’s Mass is 1.0 kg, its Temp is 25 °C, and the cylinder’s
Mass is 5 kg. Set the cylinder’s Height to 100 m. (Note: The large height scale used by the
Gizmo, while not practical in a real-world experiment, makes it easier to produce observable
temperature changes in the water.)

Click Play, and record the water’s final temperature in the table below. Repeat the
experiment at each cylinder height to complete the second column in the table.

Cylinder height (m) Final temp. (°C) Change in temp. (°C) Cylinder GPE (J)
100 m 26.17 ºc. 1.17 4900j
200 m 27.34. 2.34 9800j
500 m
30.86. 5.86 24500j
1,000 m
49000j
36.72. 11.72
3. Calculate: Subtract the water’s initial temperature from its final temperature to complete the
third column of the table.

An object’s GPE can be calculated by multiplying its height (h) by its mass (m) and
acceleration due to gravity (g): GPE = mgh. On Earth, g = 9.8 m/s2. Calculate the cylinder’s
GPE for each of the trials you completed and fill in the last column of the table.

4. Analyze: Study the data you collected.

A. How does doubling the height of the cylinder affect its GPE? ___________________

___________________________________________________________________

B. How does doubling the cylinder’s GPE affect the change in temperature experienced

by the water? ________________________________________________________

2019
 Activity B:
Get the Gizmo ready:
Potential energy
 Click Reset.
and mass

Question: How does the cylinder’s mass affect its gravitational potential energy?

1. Predict: How do you think increasing the cylinder’s mass will affect the final temperature of

it will
the water? Explain your prediction. _____________________________________________

increase
_________________________________________________________________________

2.
it
Gather data: Make sure the water’s Mass is still set to 1.0 kg and its Temp is 25 °C. Set the
cylinder’s Height to 500 m.

Use the Gizmo to complete the second column of the table below, and then calculate the
change in temperature and the cylinder’s GPE for each trial.

Cylinder mass (kg) Final temp. (°C) Change in temp. (°C) Cylinder GPE (J)
1 kg 25.94 4900
2 kg 26.88 0.94 9800
5 kg 29.69 1.88 24500
10 kg 34.38 4.69 49000
9.62
3. Compare: Describe any patterns you see and compare your results with the results you got

when experimenting with the cylinder’s height in activity A: __________________________

The GPE was the same
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

4. Apply: Suppose the cylinder had a mass of 20 kg and started at a height of 2,000 m. If the
initial temperature of the water was 25 °C, what would be the final temperature? Explain.

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

2019
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
 Click Reset.
Heat energy and
 Select the GRAPH tab and choose the Generated
temperature
heat option.

Question: What factors affect how much the water’s temperature changes when a given
amount of heat energy is added to the water?

1. Form hypotheses: In activity A, you discovered how changing the cylinder’s GPE affects the
water’s final temperature. Now consider the following questions:

A. How will changing the water’s initial temperature affect how much the water’s
temperature increases when the cylinder is dropped?
it can be lower or higher
___________________________________________________________________

B. How will changing the water’s mass affect how much the water’s temperature
increases when the cylinder is dropped?

___________________________________________________________________
It will decrease
2. Gather data: Set the cylinder’s Mass to 5 kg and its Height to 500 m. Use the Gizmo to test
each of the scenarios listed in the table and record your results in the last three columns.
Use the graph to estimate the generated heat.

Water’s mass Water’s initial Water’s final Change in Generated

(kg) temp. (°C) temp. (°C) temp. (°C) heat (kJ)
1 kg 0 °C 5.86 5.86
1 kg 20 °C 25.86 5.86
1 kg 40 °C 45.86 5.86
0.5 kg 25 °C 36.72 11.72
1 kg 25 °C 30.86 5.86
1.5 kg 25 °C 28.91 3.91

3. Explain: Why was the amount of heat generated the same each time? _________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(Activity C continued on next page)

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Activity C (continued from previous page)

4. Analyze: Use the data you collected to answer the following questions.

A. What was the effect of the initial temperature on the temperature change of the
water, and why do you think this happened?

___________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

B. What was the effect of doubling the water mass on the temperature change, and why
do you think this happened?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

5. Challenge: Not all substances heat up and cool down at the same rate. A substance’s
resistance to temperature change is described by its specific heat capacity, or specific
heat for short. For example, the specific heat of iron is 0.46 J/g °C. That means it takes 0.46
joules of heat energy to increase the temperature of a gram of iron by one degree Celsius.

Specific heat capacity can be calculated using the following equation: q = mc∆T.

In the equation, q represents the amount of heat energy gained or lost (in joules), m is the
mass of the substance (in grams), c is the specific heat capacity of the substance (in
J/g °C), and ∆T is the temperature change of the substance (in °C).

Click Reset. Set the water Mass to 1.0 kg (1,000 g). The cylinder should have a Mass of
5.0 kg and a Height of 500 m.

A. What is the gravitational potential energy of the cylinder? _______________

B. If no energy is lost, how much heat energy is added to the water? _______________

C. What is the mass of the water? _______________

D. What is the temperature change of the water? _______________

E. What is the specific heat of the water? (Show your work below.) _______________

F. How does the specific heat of water compare to the specific heat of iron? _________

___________________________________________________________________

2019