Title: Who has the most power?
Benchmark: .912.p.10.3: Compare and contrast work and power qualitatively and quantitatively.
Introduction:
The term "horsepower" was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses. The unit was then widely adopted to measure the output of piston engines, turbines, electric motors, and other machinery. Today, we know it for its common use in advertising the power of automobiles. One horsepower is equivalent to 736 watts.
Purpose - to determine how much power is generated walking and running up a flight of stairs.
Problem Statement - Who has the most power and why?
Hypothesis - If you walk up the stairs, then it will require more power compared to ground walking. The higher elevation point on the stairs causes a grader magnitude of potential energy and work.
Materials - stopwatch, mass in kilograms, meterstick, lab sheet, graph paper
Variables- Independent: time
Dependent: power or work
Control: group of students
Constant: distance, height of stairs
Procedure -
1. Determine your mass in kilograms and record in data table.
2. Measure the total vertical height of the stairs making sure to be as accurate as possible. Record this value in the data table.
3. With one person using the stopwatch, walk up the stairs. Be sure to walk at a normal pace. When timing, stop the watch at the moment the person reaches the top step. Repeat this step and calculate the average time. Record this value.
4. Now run up the stairs. Repeat this step and calculate the average time. Record this value.
5. Repeat for each person in the group.
Data/Observations -
a) Staircase walking and running data
Height of stairs - in meters(m)
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c}
\begin{tabular}{c}
Name of \\
Group \\
Member
\end{tabular} & Mass (kg) & \begin{tabular}{c}
Walking \\
Average Time \\
(sec)
\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c}
Running \\
Average \\
Time(sec)
\end{tabular} \\
\hline & & & \\
\hline
\end{tabular}