Energy stores measured: gravitational, kinetic and elastic sim
Weigh a trolley, release it from a measured height on a ramp through a light gate, launch it from a spring whose k you find with a newton-meter, and drop a tennis ball beside an upright metre rule; read every height, time and force into an empty table, work out Ep, Ek and Ee yourself, plot v² against h, Ek against e² and bounce height against drop height, and see where the missing energy was dissipated.
Energy, work and power · covers the O-Level, IGCSE, GCSE topic
What the sim shows
Model: Ep = m g h, Ek = ½ m v², Ee = ½ k e² (AQA only); g = 10 N/kg; the light gate's speed v = 10.0 cm ÷ the time its beam is blocked. A 1 in 4 ramp; a trolley of about 0.5 kg with rolling friction 0.005 (bare wood) or 0.05 (carpet) × its weight; a spring launcher that gives the trolley 95 % of its stored energy; a tennis ball that keeps the same share of its height at each bounce (chosen inside the tennis rules' limits; the share is yours to find). Idealised: light wheels, steady friction, a smooth join at the foot, a massless spring, the same share kept at every height. What is not transferred to the useful store is dissipated (heating and sound), never destroyed.
- The trolley (A, B) or the ball (C): the part to watch
- Ramp on blocks, runway, light gate and timer, balance, spring launcher, newton-meter, tile and upright metre rule
Use it in your lessons
- Try it here: anyone can unlock 2 figures free, and a free account unlocks up to 5. Runs on a laptop, a Chromebook or a phone; nothing to install.
- Present it and share student links with the teacher plan, from US$5 a month, billed yearly.
- Put it on your own website or LMS for US$9, paid once, or every sim from US$29 a month.
Free guide: 12 practicals as sims, and how to run one in a lesson →
Need a version for your exact set-up? Have one made: US$49 a figure in an order of 5.
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