Lab on Power Name________________________

Review: Work equals force times the distance through which the force acts.
Force is expressed in newtons (N) and distance is expressed in meters (m).
Work is expressed in newton-meters, or the simplification, joules (J).

Station #1: Stairs

Procedure:
Calculate the DISTANCE:

1. Count the number of steps: ____________

2. Measure the height of each step in centimeters: _______________cm.

3. Calculate total height of staircase in centimeters (Height of one step

multiplied by number of steps) __________________cm.

4. Convert the height of staircase into meters (Divide the height of staircase
by 100) ______________________m.

Calculate the FORCE:

5. Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2= ______________ (This is your

mass in kg)

6. Convert your mass to weight in Newtons (to convert your mass to weight
in Newtons, multiply mass in kg by 9.8m/s2 ):
__________________ = ________________ X 9.8m/s2
Force (Newtons) Mass (kg)
You and your partner will take turns timing how long it takes to reach the top
of the stairs. Try to make sure you are going up at 3 different speeds
(somewhere between a walk and a run).

Hypothesis: IF ____________________________________________________
________________ THEN, __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Weight (N) _____ Height of one step (m) _____ Total Height of Stairs (m) ____

Trials Work (Joules) Time (s)

Time of climb #1 (s)

Time of climb #2 (s)

Time of climb #3 (s)

7) Were the three climbing times roughly the same, or did they vary?

8) Was the amount of work you did for each trial the same? Why?

9) Did you feel as if you applied the same effort on each climb? Explain. (As
you can see, you performed the same amount of work each trial, regardless of
your speed. Your quicker speed means something else).
10) Do you think you had to use more energy, or power, to reach the top of the
stairs faster?

When we talked about speed, we said people are doing things faster if they
cover more distance in a certain amount of time. Someone is more powerful if
they can perform more work in a certain amount of time.

Given this clue, can you come up with a formula for power? And a unit?

Power =

Trials Work (Joules) Time (s) Power ( )

W=FxD
Trial 1

Trial 2

Trial 3

11) Was the amount of power you expended the same for each trial? Why or
why not?

12) State a rule that governs the relationship between speed and power:
 Follow the directions below to complete the next lab.
BE CAREFUL, NO STANDING ON SCOOTERS!

Station #2: Each member of your team will pull five books, 10 meters there
and back across the room, on ONE scooter. **One book = 20 N

13) Write a hypothesis who will win the relay race:

Why do you think that?

Work Time (s) Power Final Results

(Joules) (Watts) (Label
W=FxD P= W/T 1st-6th Place)
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Team 4
Team 5
Team 6

14) Who won the race?

15) Explain why this team won, in terms of work and power:

16) If you thought this experiment was unfair, list some variables that were
not constant: