Demo 15-02 Mechanical Equivalent of Heat

This demonstration illustrates the conversion of mechanical energy into heat. A mass of lead shot is allowed to fall from one end of a tube to the other as the tube is repeatedly turned end for end. Each time the tube is turned over, the shot gains potential energy, which is converted to kinetic energy as the shot falls to the bottom end of the tube, and then to heat. The heat creates a rise in temperature that is measured using a thermistor and displayed using a bar graph of light-emitting diodes, as seen in Figure 1