Kinetic vs. Potential Energy Online Lab and Inquiry Activity

Description

Using PhET simulations, students explore the relationship of kinetic and potential energy in a closed system. Students become aware of the Law of Conservation of Energy and also experiment with friction.

The original version of this lab uses the following web page:
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-skate-park-basics

However, PhET has created a new and improved version of this sim available here:
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/energy-skate-park/latest/energy-skate-park_all.html

This resource includes student pages for BOTH simulations which you choose between or use as differentiation.

The original sim has 3 parts:

• Introduction (no friction)
• Friction (with friction)
• Playground (free play)

The updated sim has 4 parts:

• Introduction (with and without friction, based on settings)
• Measure (worksheet incorporates a math portion)
• Graphs
• Playground (free play)

Both versions of this lab also come with answer keys and digital versions using Google Slides.