Table of Contents

Recall Work

Prompt

“Write down something you know about work.”

Context

This SWBQ can be used to prompt students to think about the relationship between work and energy: Work is change in potential energy of a system. Students from introductory physics courses will likely recall work as $W=Fd$ or $W=Fd\cos{\theta}$ but can be prompted to consider what the work is if the force is changing to develop the concept of work being an integral, $W=\Delta U=\int{\vec{F}\cdot d\vec{r}}$.

Wrap Up

This small whiteboard question is part of a sequence of activities on determining the Internal Energy of a One Dimensional System. Other activities included within this sequence follow:

  • Preceding activity:
    • Recall Energy: This small whiteboard question prompts students to write down something they know about energy.
  • Follow-up activity:
    • Internal Energy of the "Derivative Machine": This small group activity serves as an introduction to experimentally measuring an integral by determining the internal energy, $U$, of a nonlinear system at several locations.

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