The Restless Spring: Where Does a Bouncing Block's Energy Go?
Sim Lesson
Students use the Restless Spring simulation to release a block on a spring and observe that it moves fastest through the middle and is momentarily still at the ends of each bounce, tracing how kinetic and spring potential energy trade off. Lesson Purpose Students are building the idea that energy shifts between forms in an oscillation. Watching where the block is fastest and where it stops shows kinetic and spring potential energy trading back and forth.
Pull a weight down on a hanging spring and let go, and it bounces up and down for a long time. Where is it moving fastest, and where does it stop? What happens to its energy? In this lesson, you will use the Restless Spring simulation to stretch a block on a spring, release it, and watch how it moves.
Topics and standards: Science, Energy, Physics, Physical Science, Mechanical Energy, Simulation, Motion, Forces & Motion, HS-PS3-2, Grades 9-12, Forces, AP Sciences, SC.912.P.10.1, TEKS Science PHY.8.A, 3.2.9-12.P