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Hello class,

This week we are talking about the law of conservation of energy and specifically discussing its role in the dropper popper video and the woodpecker on pole video, an and the real life application of this concept.

For the dropper popper, it is interesting, because watching the video, it seems that it does not follow the law of the conservation of energy because it launches higher in the air than the height it is dropped from. However, when looking at the material of the dropper popper, it is made out of an elastic material, and so as the object is deformed out of its original shape, it stores potential energy (the same is true in the case of a stretched spring or rubber band). The potential energy stored in the dropper popper can be fully recovered into the system, and converted to kinetic energy when the dropper popper is dropped, allowing it to launch higher than the initial height of the drop. Therefore, it does follow the law of the conservation of energy.

For the woodpecker on the pole, at the beginning of the video, the woodpecker is being held in place at the top (a specific height), by friction. There is gravitational potential energy within the system because the woodpecker is beginning at a certain height. Additionally, when the woodpecker is set into motion, there is potential energy in the spring as it is stretched backwards. When released, the woodpecker enters a continuous cyclical motion where the gravitational potential energy keeps the motion going, and the potential energy stored in the spring converts to kinetic energy until the beak makes impact with the pole and there is a moment where the energy is converted to potential energy again. This process continues until the woodpecker reaches the bottom of the pole.

It is really interesting because I would look at these toys and they are so simple, yet the concepts and actions that are happening to cause them to work the way they do is so complex. Both illustrate the law of conservation of energy and help give a visual of what the concepts we are talking about this week look like in a real world application.