Student Exploration: Atwood Machine
Vocabulary: acceleration, Atwood machine, Newton’s second
law, pulley, tension, weight
Prior Knowledge Question (Do this BEFORE using the
Gizmo.)
Tarzan is standing on a tree bran
...
Student Exploration: Atwood Machine
Vocabulary: acceleration, Atwood machine, Newton’s second
law, pulley, tension, weight
Prior Knowledge Question (Do this BEFORE using the
Gizmo.)
Tarzan is standing on a tree branch, high above the forest
floor, and he wants to get down to the ground. Jane is
standing on the ground and wants to get onto Tarzan’s branch.
Tarzan holds a vine that reaches to the ground.
How could Jane get to the branch at the same time that
Tarzan travels to the ground?
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Gizmo Warm-up
Tarzan could tie the vine to the branch and then slide down after Jane
climbed up. But there may be an even easier way—what if Tarzan jumped
over the branch while holding the vine, pulling Jane up as he came down?
A similar scenario is shown in the Atwood Machine Gizmo™. An Atwood
machine has two weights connected by a rope that passes over a pulley. As
one weight moves down, the other will be pulled up. To begin, check that
Mass A is 2.0 kg and Mass B is 3.0 kg.
1. Which mass do you think will move down? ________________________
Which mass do you think will move up? __________________________
2. Click Play ( ). What happens? ______________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the force that pulls mass B downward? ___________________________________Activity A:
Up and down
Get the Gizmo ready:
Click Reset ( ).
Check that the Pulley is Frictional and has a
Mass of 2.0 kg and a Radius of 0.20 m.
Set Mass A to 1.0 kg and Mass B to 2.0 kg.
Question: What controls how quickly the two weights on an Atwood machine move?
1. Predict: How do you think the speed at which the heavier mass descends depends on the
weight difference of the two masses? ___________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Gather data: Click Play. The time it takes for mass B to hit the bottom is shown at bottom
right. Record this time, and then repeat for each combination of masses.
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