Physlet Illustration: Energy of a Bouncing Ball

 

 
Near the surface of the earth, a 100-gm bouncy ball is dropped from rest. The display grid is in meters. The velocity is shown in m/s. Study the graphs of kinetic energy, potential energy, and total energy as functions of time. Can you verify that these energies are calculated correctly? What can you conclude?

Hints

  1. When (where) does the ball's potential energy have its maximum value? Its minimum value?
  2. When (where) does the ball's kinetic energy have its maximum value? Its minimum value?
  3. How (why) do these two types of energy change?
  4. What should be true, according to the Law of Energy Conservation?

Reference

See Walker, Sections 8-2 and 8-3

Illustration written by Steve Mellema