Photo AI
A student lifts a toy car from a bench and places the toy car at the top of a slope as shown in Figure 9 - Edexcel - GCSE Physics Combined Science - Question 5 - 2020 - Paper 1
Question 5
A student lifts a toy car from a bench and places the toy car at the top of a slope as shown in Figure 9. (a) Describe an energy transfer that occurs when the stude... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A student lifts a toy car from a bench and places the toy car at the top of a slope as shown in Figure 9 - Edexcel - GCSE Physics Combined Science - Question 5 - 2020 - Paper 1
Step 1
Describe an energy transfer that occurs when the student lifts the toy car from the bench and places the toy car at the top of the slope.
Answer
When the student lifts the toy car, gravitational potential energy (GPE) is stored in the toy car as it is elevated to the top of the slope. This energy transfer occurs from the student's chemical energy, converted to mechanical energy as they do work against gravity. The correct transfer can be identified as the GPE gained by the toy car.
Step 2
Describe how the student could find, by experiment, the speed of the toy car at the bottom of the slope.
Answer
To find the speed of the toy car at the bottom of the slope, the student can conduct the following steps:
- Measure the distance the toy car travels down the slope using a ruler or measuring tape.
- Use a stopwatch to measure the time it takes for the toy car to reach the bottom of the slope.
- Calculate the speed using the formula: speed = distance / time.
- To ensure accuracy, the student can repeat the experiment multiple times and take an average of the speed measurements.
Step 3
State the other measurements the student must make.
Answer
The student needs to measure the following:
- The vertical height of the slope from the top to the bottom (which contributes to the potential energy).
- The mass of the toy car to calculate the gravitational potential energy (GPE) and kinetic energy (KE) during the motion.
Step 4
State how the student could calculate the amount of energy transferred to the surroundings.
Answer
The student could calculate the energy transferred to the surroundings by using the formula:
This measures the difference between the initial gravitational potential energy at the top of the slope and the kinetic energy as the toy car reaches the bottom.
Step 5
Explain one way the student could reduce the amount of thermal energy transferred to the surroundings as the toy car rolls down the slope.
Answer
One effective way to reduce the thermal energy transferred to the surroundings is to lubricate the wheels of the toy car. This would decrease friction between the wheels and the surface of the slope, minimizing energy loss as thermal energy and allowing more energy to convert into kinetic energy, maintaining the toy car's speed.