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course Phy 232
6-16-11 about 4:30pm
Experiment kinmodel_03: Equipartition of energy and the direction of disorder to (increasing or decreasing)Observe the first several seconds of the simulation at the 'slow' default speed. You will see how the particles initially are all moving in or very close to the x direction, with little or no y component. Note the x and y kinetic energies, displayed near the top of the screen.
• Observe what happens to the directions of motion of the particles as they start colliding.
• Observe what happens to the x and y kinetic energies.
• Is the system more organized at the beginning of the simulation or after a couple of minutes?
• If the x and y kinetic energies were averaged for 100 years, starting a few minutes after the simulation began, which do you think would be greater?
Run the simulation in this manner several times, and each time determine how long it takes before the total y kinetic energy is first greater than the total x kinetic energy. Report your results.
Now take some data:
• Running at the fastest default speed, stop the simulation with the pause/break key every few seconds, keeping your eyes closed for at least 2 seconds before stopping the motion.
• Write down the x and y kinetic energies each time.
• Do this at least 30 times.
• Find the average of all your x and all your y kinetic energies.
• Do you believe the difference in the averages is significant, in that the direction that has the higher average will always tend to have the higher average every time the simulation is run?
Ave x KE
1840
1834
1446
1486
1718
1699
1716
2023
1794
1729
1665
2063
1716
1729
1659
1834
2123
1668
2009
1779
2039
1483
1983
1525
2175
1732
1684
2202
2243
1834
Their mean is 54430/ 30 = 1814.
Ave y KE
1637
1643
2032
1991
1760
1778
1761
1455
1684
1749
1813
1415
1762
1749
1819
1644
1355
1810
1469
1699
1439
1995
1495
1953
1303
1746
1795
1276
1236
1645
Their mean is 49910/ 30 = 1664.
Yes I do not think that the x KE will always tend to have the higher ave than the y KE. The standard deviation, as calculated by the data program, for the x KE is 213.7 and the y KE is 213.6 (this seems remarkably close to me). Based on this, I would say that the x KE will be higher the majority of the time.
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Self-critique (if necessary):
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