1. Energy Conversion Team Project 4: EF 151

2. Group Members:

3. Purpose: To use energy conversions to light up a “pine branch” (a small one) in celebration of the upcoming holiday. • This device uses elastic potential energy, gravitational potential energy, and kinetic energy in order to flip the switch on the battery pack and light up the tree.

4. Step 1: Elastic Potential Energy • This step uses a rubber-band shooter to launch a marble through the tube of the launcher itself.

5. Step 2: Gravitational Potential Energy • This step uses the ball launched in the last step to knock over a wooden block, thus causing rollerblade wheel (attached to a horizontal pole by a string) to fall and swing the circumference of the circle.

6. Step 3: Elastic Potential Energy • This step uses the motion of the wheel in the previous step to knock loose a wooden stick, therefore allowing the elastic energy of a rubber-band to turn a fan.

7. Step 4:Gravitational Potential Energy • In this step, the turning fan from the last step pushes one side of a “seesaw” with a car balanced on it, causing the car to roll down the newly created incline.

8. Step 5: Kinetic Energy • The car from the last step then rides down the ramp and hits the pad on a mousetrap, activating the trap.

9. Step 6: Elastic Potential Energy • In this step, the mousetrap’s springs activate and cause the bar, which has a wire attached to it, to flip over and touch the base, with another wire attached to it, causing the wires to touch each other.

10. Step 7: The FINALE!! • The wires then touch, turning on the light, thus lighting up our branch.

11. DEMONSTRATION • We will now demonstrate “The Self-Lighting Christmas Tree” for you!!!!

12. Energy Conversions • Step 1: Elastic Potential  Kinetic to • Step 2: Gravitational Potential  Kinetic to • Step 3: Elastic Potential  Kinetic to • Step 4: Gravitational Potential  Kinetic

13. Energy Conversions (cont’d) • Step 5:Kinetic Energy  Elastic Potential to • Step 6: Elastic Potential  Gravitational Potential

14. Conclusions • Our project works, okay, but with more time it could be much more efficient.