People Power
Objective: To calculate power generated by humans.
Equipment: stopwatch, stairs
Methods:
1.
Record your mass in kilograms.
2. The vertical
height of the stairs from the basement to the second floor
landing is 7.0 meters.
3. Climb the stairs
safely with a stopwatch, recording your ascent time to the
nearest 0.1 second.
Analysis:
1.
Calculate your weight.
2. Determine the
work you did against gravity (i.e., vertically) during the
climb.
3. Calculate your
power in watts, then convert to horsepower
(1 hp = 746 watts).
4. Using your
calculated power, determine the vertical component of your
velocity up the stairs. (P=Fv)
5. How long would a
60 watt bulb have to burn to produce the energy you used climbing
the stairs?
6. Assuming 100% of
your energy can be converted to electrical power, and electricity
costs $0.10 for one kilowatt-hour, how high should you climb to
make one penny's worth of electricity?
Show all work & units.
7.
If one food Calorie (=1000 Achemistry@
calories) equals 4184 J, how far up could you go on one
cream-filled Oreo cookie containing 50 Calories?
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