02-6-09

Today we did the Pile Driver Lab. In this lab, we are trying to find the average resisting force of the driver on the nail. First, we put the nail just slightly into the wood so that it would stick out. This is shown by Travis in the picture above. Then, we measured the distance of the nail sticking out of the block of wood. Then, we massed the driver. We took the short tube and dropped the driver, and then measured the distance of the nail in the wood. Then, we took the long tube and did the same thing. We then put the 2 tubes together, creating one long tube, and dropped the driver. After recording the data, we calculated the work done on the nail. The work done is equal to the potential energy of the system, but if the object is able to fall, the potential energy is turned into kinetic energy. Force times displacement equal mass times gravity times height is the equation we used in this lab.