GKE – Investigation 3

Focus Questions

3-1  How is potential energy related to kinetic energy?

3-2  How does kinetic energy of an object change when its speed or mass changes?

3-3  How does Newton’s laws help us explain marble billiards?

Vocabulary

collision        energy      friction        joule      kinetic energy

potential energy      variable

Concepts

• Kinetic Energy is the energy of moving things; potential energy is energy dependent on the position of an object.

• A collision transfers kinetic energy.

• Increasing the mass of an object by some factor increases its kinetic energy by the same factor; increasing the speed of an object by some factor increases its kinetic energy by the same factor squared.

• An object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed (or a still object will stay still) unless acted on by an external force.

• For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.