Raiden+M

=Mechanical Energy =

Mechanical energy is a form of energy associated with large objects. Mechanical energy is how these large objects move or position themselves. It can be either kinetic energy of potential energy. For example, a baseball thrown by a pitcher has mechanical kinetic energy, because it is a large object and it has the energy of motion. A book on the edge of a desk has mechanical potential energy, because gravity is pulling on the book, but it has not fallen yet. When the book falls, it will have kinetic energy. Every large object has mechanical energy acting on it at all times, because gravity is another example of mechanical energy. Some other examples are friction, air resistance, and springs. 

A huge example of mechanical energy is gravity. Gravity is the attraction of two objects with mass. If two walnut-sized planets were placed in space all by themselves a meter apart, in about a million years, they will be touching. On earth, gravity accelerates other masses towards itself at a rate of about 1 m/s­2. Gravity is one of the reasons why earth can inhabit life. Without gravity, the earth wouldn’t rotate the sun, and would just hurdle through space. Plants couldn’t grow, so humans and other animals wouldn’t be able to eat. Without gravity, a skydiver wouldn't fall back to earth. Gravity is relative to size though. Every time and object is thrown in the air, it comes back, but the earth or other mass comes up a minute bit. Without gravity, objects in the air would continue moving in the same direction forever.

Experiment

The purpose of this experiment was to see if the shape of the silly putty affects how much air resistance acts on it. To test this, a meter stick, a rubber band, silly putty and a timer were used. The rubber band was used to hold the meter stick to the table. Three shapes, a flat circle, a sphere, and a long cylinder, were dropped from exactly 1 meter off the ground. The shapes were timed how long it took to get from the drop to the ground. This was measured in seconds. Each shape was dropped three times to make sure of consistency, and the average was taken. The sphere took 0.28 to get to the ground. The flat circle took 0.34 to hit the ground, and the long cylinder took 0.38 seconds to get to the ground. This experiment really showed what mechanical energy can do. Gravity pulled the large objects down, and air resistance slowed them. 