Question

A different group of students decided to do this experiment by

measuring the motion of an object that is sliding down a ramp (instead

of falling) because they were worried that the detector would not

capture the falling motion very effectively. When they compared the

initial gravitational potential energy to the final kinetic energy, they

found that energy was not conserved; some energy was lost.

After discussion, they decide that friction between the ramp and the

object is a likely problem. They all make suggestions for how to change

the experiment to make energy conservation more likely. Given what!

you know about friction, which of these suggestions from group

members is likely to reduce the energy lost to friction? Select all that

apply.

"Choose an object that weighs more."

Choose an object that weighs less."

"Give the object a stronger push at the beginning

Answer 1

Using an object of less mass can reduce the energy lost due to friction.

Step-by-step explanation:

let the mass of the object be M.

acceleration due to gravity be g, coefficient of kinetic friction between object and slider be
`\alpha` , angle between horizntal and slider be ∅ and distance slided by the object be d.

work done by friction of the ramp will be the energy lost by ramp due to friction.

work done = force×displacement

force =
`\alpha`×M×g×cos∅

displacement= d

therefore work done =
`\alpha`×M×g×cos∅×d

therefore on decreasing the mass M we can see that work done by friction decreases so the energy lost due to friction also decreases.