Potential Energy of an Elastic System

Highlights of the activity

1. This integrated laboratory activity is designed to ask upper-division undergraduate students to measure the change in potential energy in an elastic system (PDM) between two different states.
2. Students use the Partial Derivative Machine (PDM) to verify experimentally that the forces and dimensions of their system are state variables as well as measure the relationships between these quantities to compute the potential energy of their system.
3. The whole class discussion focuses on the meaning of integration of discrete experimental data.

Reasons to spend class time on the activity

This activity occurs during the “Interlude”, a brief course on the basic mathematics used in the “Energy and Entropy” Paradigm. This course primarily focuses on an introduction to partial derivatives and total differentials. We would like our students to have an understanding of how to measure partial derivatives and their relation to real physical quantities. This lab exercise uses the Partial Derivative Machine (PDM) to experimentally verify the state properties of an elastic system (i.e. the PDM). Using the PDM, the students measure the relationships between the state variables in such a way that they may determine the potential energy of the system.

For a description of the Partial Derivative Machine visit this page.

Reflections

• Reflections from the original implementation.

• Reflections from "official" adapters/adopters.

• Reflections from the general public.

Instructor's Guide

• Wiki version