Name: Abigail Barcia Date: 3 – 16 - 22

Student Exploration: Sled Wars

Vocabulary: acceleration, energy, friction, kinetic energy, momentum, potential energy, speed

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the

Gizmo.)

1. A firefighter is trying to break through a door. Is he more

likely to break through if he runs at the door very slowly or if
he runs at the door very fast? Explain your answer.

He is more likely to break through the door running at a

faster speed, as he would build more momentum and force
running towards it fast.

2. Two firefighters are trying to break through a door. One firefighter is heavy, and the other is
light. If they run at the same speed, which one is more likely to break through? Explain.

The heavier firefighter will more likely break through because the more force needed to
accelerate an object means the more force the object will have.

Gizmo Warm-up
The ability to crash through doors and cause other changes
depends on an object’s energy. With the Sled Wars Gizmo,
you will explore the factors that affect the energy of a sled.

The Gizmo shows a Yeti named Burt riding his sled down a
steep hill. Burt plays a game where he tries to wreck as many
snowmen as he can.

1. Use the slider to set the Snowmen to 5. Check that the height of the sled is 25.0 m. Click

Play ( ). How many snowmen does the sled destroy? 1.23

2. Click Reset ( ). Set the Red sled mass to 200 kg. Click Play. How many snowmen does

the sled destroy this time? 2.45

3. Click Reset. Drag the sled to the top of the hill so the starting height is 50.0 m. Click Play.

A. How many snowmen are destroyed now? 5

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B. Why do you think this is so? I think this is because the sled starts at a higher point,
building more momentum and force. The sled is also 200 kg adding more force.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:  Click Reset. Check that One sled is selected.
Acceleration and  Set the Red sled mass to 100 kg.
speed  Set the Number of snowmen to 0.
 Check that the height of the sled is 50.0 m.

Introduction: Speed is a measure of how fast an object is moving. It is defined as distance

moved per unit of time. In this Gizmo, the units of speed are meters per second, or m/s.

Question: What factors affect the speed of the sled?

1. Observe: With the sled at 50.0 m, click Play. Observe the Red sled speed speedometer.

A. What happens to the sled’s speed as it moves down the slope? It gains speed.

B. Acceleration is a change in speed or direction over time. In what two ways does the

sled accelerate as it descends? The sled’s speed and kinetic energy increase over

distance.

C. Click Reset. This time, focus on the speed of the sled after it reaches the bottom of

the hill. Click Play. What do you notice? It increases till it comes to a constant speed.

D. Does the sled accelerate after reaching the bottom? Once it reaches the bottom, it
stays at a constant speed.

2. Experiment: Click Reset. Set the Red sled mass to 10 kg. Click Play and then Pause ( )
after the sled reaches the bottom.

A. Look at the speedometer. What is the speed of the sled? 31.30 m/s

B. Click Reset, and change the Red sled mass to 200 kg. Click Play. What is the

speed of the sled at the bottom now? 31.30 m/s

C. Try other sled masses. Does the mass of the sled affect its final speed? No

In this Gizmo, there is no friction, so there is no force slowing the sled down. As
long as there is no friction, the sled’s final speed only depends on the starting height.
In the real world, friction will affect the sled’s final speed.

3. Explore: Click Reset. Use the Gizmo to measure the sled’s final speed when it starts at a
height of 10 meters and when it starts at a height of 40 meters. Record these speeds below.

Speed when starting from 10 m: 14.00 m/s Speed when starting from 40 m: 28.00 m/s

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 How does increasing the starting height affect the final speed? Yes
Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
 Click Reset, and check that One sled is selected.
Energy  Drag the red sled so that its height is 25.0 m.
 Set the Red sled mass to 100 kg.

Introduction: Energy can be found in several forms. Kinetic energy is energy of motion.
Potential energy is stored energy, such as the stored energy of a sled at the top of a hill.

Question: How are potential and kinetic energy related to one another?

1. Collect data: Turn on Show energy. Notice that energy is measured in joules (J). In the
table, record the potential and kinetic energy of the sled at the top of the slope, about
halfway down, and at the bottom. (Use the Pause button to stop the sled halfway down.)

Location Height Potential energy Kinetic energy Total energy

Top 25.0 m 7393 j 17107 j 24500 j
Middle 15.0 m 138 j 9662 j 9800 j
Bottom 0.0 m 0j 0j 0j

A. How do the potential and kinetic energy change as the sled moves down the slope?

When a sled is moving, the kinetic energy is changing because of the speed and
mass. It causes the sled to move and change because it isn’t at a constant speed.
Potential energy changes when you get on because you are adding more weight.
Which causes the gravity to change.

B. Add the potential and kinetic energy for each ___location to find the total energy. What

do you notice about the total energy? The higher the sled, the more energy there will

be.

According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can be changed from one
form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. That means that the total
amount of energy at the beginning is the same as the total amount at the end.

2. Explore: Vary the sled’s height and mass. Observe the effect of each change on the
potential energy of the sled.

A. How does potential energy change when height is increased? When the height is
increased the GPE doubles.

B. How does potential energy change when mass is increased? The GPE increases
when the mass is increased.

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 C. Compare a sled’s potential energy at 10 m to its potential energy at 20 m. How does

doubling height affect potential energy? The potential energy increases when height

increases.

D. Compare the potential energy of a 100-kg sled and a 200-kg sled at the same height.

How does doubling mass affect potential energy? With double the mass, there was

more potential energy and more snowmen were destroyed.

(Activity B continued next page)

Activity B (continued from previous page)

3. Measure: Click Reset. Set the Red sled mass to 100 kg and the Snowmen to 1. Drag the
sled to the top of the hill. Click Play and then Pause just before the sled hits the snowman.

A. What is the speed of the sled before it hits the snowman? 31.30 m/s

B. What is the kinetic energy of the sled before it hits the snowman? 49,000 j

C. Click Play. What is the speed and kinetic energy of the sled after hitting the

snowman? Speed: 24.08 m/s Kinetic energy: 29,000 j

D. How much energy was used to destroy one snowman? 20,000 j

4. Predict: Click Reset. Drag the sled to a height of 40 meters and set its mass to 160 kg.

A. What is the potential energy of the sled? 62720 j

B. How many snowmen do you think this sled can destroy? 3 Explain your answer. I

think it can destroy about 3 snowmen because there is a lot of energy and it’s quite

high.

C. Set the Snowmen to 5 and click Play. How many snowmen were destroyed? 3

5. Extension 1: The formula for potential energy is PE = m • g • h. In this formula, PE stands for
potential energy (in joules), m stands for mass (in kilograms), h stands for height (in meters),
and g stands for acceleration caused by gravity. On Earth’s surface, g is 9.8 m/s2. This
means that, every second, the speed of a falling object increases by 9.8 m/s.

Calculate the potential energy of a 20-kg sled at 40

meters. Show your work in the space to the right. When
you are done, use the Gizmo to check your answer.

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 Potential energy: 7840 j

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6. Extension 2: The formula for kinetic energy is KE = 2 m • v2. In this formula, KE stands for
kinetic energy (in joules), m stands for mass (in kilograms), and v2 stands for speed
squared, or the speed multiplied by itself.

Calculate the kinetic energy of a 20-kg sled moving 28.0

m/s. Show your work in the space to the right. To check
your answer, set the height to 40 m and the mass to 20
kg. Click Play and wait until the sled gets to the bottom.

Kinetic energy: 7840 j

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:  Select Two sleds. Check that Show energy is on.
 Set the Red sled mass to 150 kg and its height to
Sled wars!
20 m. Set the Blue sled mass to 100 kg and its
height to 35 m.

Introduction: Burt the Yeti and his friend Karen are having a contest called a “sled war.” The
winner is the sled that pushes the other sled backward when the two sleds collide.

Question: Who will win the sled war?

1. Predict: Burt’s red sled is a bit heavier than Karen’s blue sled, but she is higher on the slope.

A. What is the potential energy of each sled? Red sled: 36750 Blue sled: 24500

B. Which sled do you think will push the other back when they collide? The red sled
because it is heavier and has more energy. So it will be easier for it to push the blue
one back.

2. Test: Check that Sleds stick together is selected. Click Play. Click Pause after the two
sleds collide with each other.

A. Which sled won the sled war? blue Did this surprise you? yes

C. After the collision, what is the kinetic energy of each sled? Red – 1470 j Blue – 980 j

B. What happened to the combined energy of the two sleds when they collided? They
pushed each other to the side.

C. Because energy is conserved, the “lost” energy has actually been changed into other
forms. Looking at the two sleds, what effect did some of this energy cause?

This caused them to keep sliding back and forth.

Activity C (continued from previous page)

3. Gather data: Click Reset. For each combination of sled masses and starting heights below,
click Play, and then click Pause just before the sleds collide. Record the speed and
momentum of each sled. Then, click Play again and record the winning sled.

Trial 1 2 3
Red sled height 50.0 m 25.0 m 5.0 m
Red sled mass 20 kg 120 kg 100 kg
Red sled speed 6.45 m/s 22.14 m/s 9.90 m/s
Red sled momentum 129 kg*m/s 2656.8 kg*m/s 990 kg*m/s
Blue sled height 10.0 m 20.0 m 45.0 m
Blue sled mass 100 kg 130 kg 40 kg

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 Blue sled speed 6.45 m/s 19.80 m/s 29.70 m/s
Blue sled momentum 645 kg*m/s 2574 kg*m/s 1188 kg*m/s
Winning sled BLUE RED BLUE

A. In each trial, circle the greater momentum value. What is true about the momentum

of the winning sled in each contest? The higher momentum, the more likely that sled

will win.

B. If you knew each sled’s mass and speed, how could you determine which sled will be

pushed backward in a collision? Whoever is going faster. Or who has the greater

mass.

4. Explore: Click Reset. Select Sleds bounce. In this collision, large springs cause the sleds to
bounce off each other. Using the same settings from the last trial above, click Play.

What do you see? The blue sled went up higher on the mountain.

5. Extension: Click Reset. Without changing any of the sled masses or heights, record the
potential and kinetic energy of each sled and find the total energy before the collision. Click
Play and then Pause after the collision. Record the potential and kinetic energy of each sled
after the collision, and find the total energy.

Red PE Red KE Blue PE Blue KE Total energy

Before collision 4,900 j 0j 17,640 j 0j 22,540 j
After collision 7,940 j 160 j 14,437 j 3j 22540 j

Is energy conserved in this type of collision? The energy stayed the same meaning it was
conserved because no matter what it always adds up to the same energy.

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