Magnetic Potential Energy Lab

Purpose: To derive an expression for the magnetic potential energy of the glider, based on the distance between the magnet on the glider and the magnet on the track. Once this function is determined, the total energy of the glider will be determined based on the position of the glider and the velocity and mass of the glider.


Procedure: A glider, track and blower were setup. The angle of the track was measured and the distance between the surface of the magnets. This was repeated as the angle was increased. The force of the glider was then calculated based on the angle of the track and the mass of the glider.

This produced the following graph:


The magnetic potential energy of the cart was then derived.

The track was leveled and a motion detector placed at the end of the track.

The glider was gently pushed toward the motion detector and the force of the repelling magnet would push it in the opposite direction.

Conclusion: The kinetic energy of the cart was not preserved in our experiment. On of the reasons for this is that the resolution of the position from the motion detector is not very accurate, especially as the magnetic potential energy starts increasing more quickly as the magnets become closer, this makes the error become larger. The graph did show the KE did decrease as the cart approaches the magnet. The PE increased as the magnets became closer together. This shows that with a more accurate experiment, the energy may be preserved.