THE MIND MUSEUM EXPERIENCE

By Keisha Segui PS 1 J Newtons Cradle According to Newtons Third Law of Motion, for every force that one object exerts on a second object, there is an equal but oppositely directed force that the second object exerts on the first object. Basically, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. Newtons Cradle is a contraption that demonstrates this law. When you lift and release a ball from one side of the contraption, it will hit the other balls and send the ball at the other end into the air. The ball will then drop, hit the other balls and send the first ball at the other end into the air again. The first ball is the action and the ball at the other end is the reaction. Newtons Cradle also demonstrates the law of conservation of energy. According to the law of conservation of energy, the total energy of a system is always the same although energy changes from one form to another. When the first ball is lifted into the air, its kinetic energy is zero and potential energy some non-zero number. This non-zero number is the total energy of the system. When the ball is dropped, its kinetic energy increases while its potential energy decreases, but the total energy of the system remains the same. When the first ball hits the second ball, its potential and kinetic energies are zero, and the energy from the first ball is transferred to the second ball. The second ball transfers the energy to the third ball and so on. Throughout the transfer of energy from one ball to another, the amount of energy in the system remains the same. Bernoullis Principle In class, we learned that whenever fluids pass through a constriction, the average fluid flow rate increases. The faster it flows, the less pressure there is. We used airplane wings as an example of this occurrence. The reason why the upper surface of an airplane wing is curved and the lower surface is flat is because air travels faster in the upper surface due to the constriction caused by the curve. Because the air travels faster in the upper surface of the wing, there is less pressure there and more pressure on the lower surface. The difference in the pressures between the upper and lower surface causes the wings to fly. This principle is called Bernoullis Principle. The contraption in the Mind Museum that demonstrates this principle is a ball that is lifted in the air by air coming from a tube. The air from the tube flows evenly around each side of the ball. The ball is pulled downward by gravity while the pressure below the ball from the moving air forces it upward. The forces acting on the ball are balanced causing the ball to stay in the air.

Kinetic Exhibit Just like Newtons Cradle, the Kinetic Exhibit contraption also demonstrates the law of conservation of energy. In the contraption, potential energy from my hand is transformed into kinetic energy when the crank is turned which is then transformed to mechanical energy when the balls go through the obstacles. As energy is transformed throughout the contraption, the total energy of the system remains the same. Another law present in the system is the law of conservation of mechanical energy which states that in the absence of dissipative forces, the sum of K and V is a constant, provided that no energy is added to the system. So as the balls go through the obstacles, the sum of their kinetic and potential energies or the total energy remains the same. Energy Forms The Energy Forms contraption is another exhibit piece that demonstrates the transfer and conversion of energy from one form to another. When the ring is turned, kinetic energy is converted to mechanical energy which is then converted to electrical energy until finally it is heat. According to the sign of the device, Jean Charles Athanase Peltier discovered that if he joined copper wire and bismuth wire together, then to a battery, one of the junctions of the two wires got hot, while the other junction got cold. We defined heat as the transfer of thermal energy due to a difference in temperature. Thermal energy transfer is caused by the difference in temperature at the junction of the copper wire and bismuth wire caused by electricity. Einsteins Great Idea This museum piece shows the Earth rotating around the Sun. The reason the Earth rotates around the Sun is explained through Einsteins General Theory of Relativity. Almost all our lessons in Physics involve gravity. According to Einstein and the museum sign, gravity is not a force, but the consequence of bent shape of spacetime. His Theory of Relativity states that objects with mass bend the fabric of space-time, in proportion to their mass. This explains why planets appear to be attracted to the more massive stars, such as our own Sun, and orbit around them.