Guiding Question: How does the mass and velocity of a moving object affect its kinetic energy?
Background Information:
Storyline: As a NASA engineer, you are designing transport vehicles to be used in future interplanetary missions. The transport vehicle will be traveling very fast when it hits the surface of the planet. As we design our vehicle, we must consider:
How much energy will be transferred to the vehicle at impact?
How does it change with the size and speed of the lander?
Which is the more IMPORTANT factor.
Should we focus on making our vehicle LIGHTER or worrying about its VELOCITY?
In physics, KINETIC ENERGY is the energy an object has BECAUSE of its motion. Kinetic energy is also a measure of how much change an object can cause.
a larger moving object will do more damage (cause more change) than a smaller moving object.
a faster moving object will do more damage (cause more change) than a slower moving object.
You will receive some experimental data that our NASA research scientists determined for the KINETIC ENERGY (measured in kilojoules (kJ) = 1000 Joules) of the impact of our lander.
Draw and label the axes for your data
Label your axes with a proper SCALE so that your data will FILL the graph
Plot the points on your graph
Connect the dots to see the relationship
Kinetic energy increases when mass increases.
A small object (small mass) can have the same kinetic energy as a large object (large mass) IF its velocity is large enough
The shape of the MASS vs ENERGY graph has a NON-LINEAR RELATIONSHIP.
The VELOCITY vs ENERGY graph shows a NON-LINEAR RELATIONSHIP.
An increase in velocity of 100 m/s leads to a LARGER increase in kinetic energy than an increase of 100 kg.
What happens to the kinetic energy when you increase the mass?
What happens to the kinetic energy when you increase the speed?
How can a small object (small mass) have the same energy as a large object (large mass)?
What happens to kinetic energy when you DOUBLE the mass?
What happens to kinetic energy when you DOUBLE the velocity?
Which makes a bigger difference:
Based on your graphs, discuss the attributes you would want to consider if you were to build an egg drop lander. Which should you consider more: mass of your lander? or velocity of impact? Use specific evidence from the data to support your claims.