Physics 2

Lesson 4
Shake It Up Lab Report
I. Introduction:
In studying physics, you come to understand that energy (the property of an object or a system that
enables it to do work> is never lost, but simply transferred (law of conservation of energy). In this lab, we
can clearly see this transfer of energy from shaking the bottle (kinetic/mechanical energy> to heat
energy. In order to understand this thoroughly, here are some words you need to know:
Kinetic Energy- Energy of motion
First law of Thermodynamics- Whenever heat is added to a system, it transforms to an equal
amount of some other form of energy
Calorie- a unit of heat
Heat- Energy transfer from one object to another because of temperature difference
Temperature- The property of a material that tells how warm or cold it is relative to some
standard.
Specific Heat Capacity- The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of
a substance by one degree Celsius (also known as specific heat and heat capacity).
II. Problem:
What would happen to the initial temperature of a bottle of sand if you shake it for ten trials, a minute
each trial?
Ill. Hypothesis:
If a bottle of sand is shaken for 10 trials a minute each trial, then the temperature of the bottle of sand
will have a slight increase.
IV. Procedure/Materials:
1. Obtain the materials from your teacher
. Thermometer
Timer or stopwatch
Safety goggles
2. Take an initial temperature reading by placing the thermometer into the sand for 20 seconds.
Copy the data table from the next page onto your own paper. This will go into your
data/observations section on your lab report write-up. Record the initial temperature in your table
under zero minutes.
3. Close the lid of the bottle tightly and start your timer. Shake the bottle VERY vigorously for one
minute. Open the lid and record the temperature at the one minute mark in your data table. Take a
temperature reading every minute for 10 minutes (shake bottle for one minute, 10 different times)
and record your observations in the data table.
Data /Observations:
Time 012 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(minutes)
Temperature 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 29 29 29 29
(Celsius)
n the experiment, one of the qulitative datas is the feeling of the bottle getting warmer as you
shake it, One of the quantitatives datas is the increase in temperature as you i easure its increase
decrease or neutraflty.
SI. Results (Analysis Questions):
1. Describe what happened to your temperature readings for the 10 minutes.
A: Originally, there was an increase in temperature by 1C per minute. However, the increase
slowed down at 5 mm and beyond, starting at 28C and ending with a constant 29C.
2. If there were any temperature changes during the 10 minutes of shaking, what caused them?
A: Conversion of the original source of energy (mechanical/kinetic energy from me shaking the
bottle.
3. Name the independent variable and the dependent variable in the experiment.
A: The independent variable in the experiment is the time, and the dependent variable is the
temperature.
4. What does the first law of thermodynamics state? How does it relate to this experiment?
The first law of thermodynamics states that whenever heat is added to a system, it transforms to an
equal amount of some other form of energy. In this experiment, we can clearly see the
transformation/conservation in forms of energy (mechanical > heat>
5. Using the following equation: Q = mcT (Quantity of heat lost or gained = mass x specific heat
capacity of substance x the change in temperature) solve the word problem below.
A 30 gram piece of iron is heated to 100C and then dropped into cool water where the irons
temperature drops to 30C. How many calories does it loose to the water? (The specific heat of iron
is 0.11 cal/gC)
A: Q mcT (quantity of heat lost or gained = mass x specific heat capacity of substance x change in
temperature>
Q = (30g>(0.llcal/gC>(100C-30C>
Q=231J
VII. Conclusion:
In this lab, we observed the conversion of mechanical energy into thermal energy in 10 minutes by
shaking a bottle filled with sand for 10 trials a minute each trial. I assumed that as each trial passed
by the initial temperature of the sand will have a slight increase. After the lab was complete, the
data shown proved my hypothesis to be correct (for the most part), the temperature of the sand will
increase as each: trial goes on (conversion of energy from. kinetic to thermal); nsy arm was gettin.g
tired after so much shaking, so it mightve altered what the true results for the data may have been
(1 believe the temperature wouldnt have been constant during the last trials, it wouldve increased).
To further understand this concept, you can try getting a machine to shake the bottle rather than a
human, since the shake would be constant. In real life, we can see this everywhere as energy is
always being transferred from one form to another; It occurs a lot in machines especially. This lab
helps me understand what Ive learned about thermodynamics (especially the first law) and
conversion/conservation of energy.