Why Don't Basketballs Bounce Forever?

Second Day Assignment

PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer

Conservation of energy means that the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy transferred into or out of the system. (HS-PS3-1)
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transported from one place to another and transferred between systems. (HS-PS3-1), (HS-PS3-4) The availability of energy limits what can occur in any system. (HS-PS3-1)
Uncontrolled systems always evolve toward more stable states—that is, toward more uniform energy distribution (e.g., water flows downhill, objects hotter than their surrounding environment cool down). (HS-PS3-4)

We have discussed two laws of thermodynamics. The first law states that new energy cannot be created, it can only change from one form to another. The second law states that a system will tend from a more orderly to a less orderly state unless work is done upon that system. Choose a system. A system is a group of things that interact and can be viewed in contrast to their surroundings. Your house and everything in it can be viewed as a system.

The United States economy can be viewed as a system. A sock drawer can be viewed as a system. This classroom can be viewed as a system. As an example, I will use a glass of water as my system.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

A glass of ice water gets warmer. Being warmer, i.e. having a higher temperature, is an increase in the energy of that system. We know however that that increase in energy came from it surroundings, as evidenced by the fact that we cool off when we drink water. We give some of our thermal energy to heat the water we drink, and thereby we cool off. That is an example of the first law of thermodynamics.

Write about a system of your choice. Explain how energy in that system is conserved. (75 words)

If left without a freezer, the ice in the glass melts. It goes from a more ordered state, with some of the molecules as ice (very orderly because it is a solid) and some of the molecules as liquid. This separation is more orderly. Over time the ice melts, it becomes a less orderly liquid. Also because there is no longer two substances in the glass, only one substance with all the particles having nearly the same temperature, the system has become less orderly. This is an example of the second law of thermodynamics.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.2d Use precise language, domain-specific vocabulary and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic; convey a knowledgeable stance in a style that responds to the discipline and context as well as to the expertise of likely readers.

Write about your system and explain how entropy (the measure of disorder) increases over time.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.1a Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

Revisit the Kinetic Energy Minilab. There are two balls that are bouncing. Write about the them as two different systems. Explain which one of them is following the second law of thermodynamics and what form you think the energy is converting to, and why.