The Future of Education

In 9th grade we learned about work power, energy; in 10th grade we learned about electricity and magnetism and in 11th grade we will learn about force and motion [1]. When we examined our current textbooks and the textbooks we'll be using in the following years, we couldn't obtain any information on the transfer of power produced by an electric motor to a mechanical system [2]. While building robots for our extracurricular activities, although we achieved some success by using the trial and error method, as a part of the elective mechatronics course we're enrolled in, we had to prove that a system we designed would work scientifically, before physically building it. So, we designed a system that lifts a cap with a mass of 0.335 kg and places it on a 60cm tall pole. To prove that this system will work; first, the force required to lift a cap was measured by using the torque formula. Then, the power was calculated by measuring the current of the system and multiplying it by the potential difference. Next, the speed in the form of m/s was found. Afterwards, the circuit was supplied with a battery powerful enough to create a force that satisfies the torque formula. The force exerted was calculated by knowing the perpendicular distance and torque (torque is constant), by using trigonometry. The arm rotates from 0 to 60 centimetres. The force exerted on the system in each interval of the rotation until it reached 60 centimetres in altitude was found by determining the  perpendicular distance of the arm in key positions. Then, the torque formula was applied to find the force required to lift the object at those positions. The calculations showed that the system should have been able to lift the cap, but tests showed otherwise. After some research, we came to the conclusion that this was a result of energy loss during the transfer. So we attached the arm to a system with a gear reduction of 5/2 and tested the minimum amount of force required to lift the cap. The arm started to lift after a greater force than what we had calculated was applied. By doing this, we managed to calculate the loss of energy due to the friction between the two gears.

Keywords: Power, Torque, Energy Transfer, Force;

References: 
[1] The official MEB Curriculum
[2] MEB Physics Textbooks (9,10 and 11th grade)
[3] Curriculum.vexrobotics.com. (2019). 8.4: Gear Ratios.
[4] McGraw-Hill Education.Glencoe Physics: Principles & Problems, Student Edition.USA.McGraw-Hill Companies (2005).