Purpose
In this experiment, you will lift a ball and drop it. You will determine and compare the potential energy of the ball before it's dropped to the kinetic energy of the ball after right before it hits the ground.

Discussion
When an object is lifted, the work done to lift the object is transformed into potential energy. If the object is then dropped, the potential energy is transformed to kinetic energy as it falls. In this experiment, we will determine the potential energy of a lifted object. We will also determine the kinetic energy of a dropped object. We will then compare the potential energy that an object has when it is lifted to a certain height to the kinetic energy it has after it has fallen from that height.