When Lowering a Ball with const. KE - where does the GPE go?

I found 20 minutes of gold! :) An awesome discussion resulted when Lane lowered a bowling ball at a constant speed and asked the teachers to perform ET for this act. This was directly after the teachers had performed ET for a scenario where Lane was lifting a bowling ball at a constant speed. The group struggled to figure out where the GPE goes as it is being lowered.

What I find particularly fascinating about this clip was that Jessica (and others) mentioned the idea of the GPE transferring into heat SEVEN times before the group accepted it. Below, I have listed out the moments where heat was suggested as a solution. It wasn't until moment #9 that the idea was accepted and the group was able to proceed with their theater.

1. [00:06:48.03] Jessica: Could it be heat?
{Jessica first introduces the idea that the GPE is being transferred to heat.}
2. [00:07:16.30] Jessica: I think the GPE goes to heat.
{Conversation continues without comment about Jessica's suggestion.}
3. [00:09:08.27] Jessica: You know what? Seriously, the only place it could be going is heat cause it's obviously not going anywhere useful.
4. [00:09:46.00] Jessica: It's so much easier if we just have it be heat.
Debra: yah, I think I'm with you. {to Jessica}
5. [00:11:04.05] Jessica: So how about we have some of the people who are going from GPE to Kinetic go away as heat or go into the earth or whatever you're....
6. [00:12:13.24] Marni: Let's just lose one person to heat, or something.
Gary: I don't think we need any heat.
7. [00:13:00.01] Jessica: To hell with heat!
{others echo this sentiment}
8. [00:14:43.29] Leanna: I'm beginning to think that it {heat} going to the air is a good idea.
Tim: That just seems so like,
Jessica: ...like a give away
Tim: It's just like a Hail Mary pass, it's just like I don't know, let's just go...
9. [00:16:19.27] Jessica: Couldn't we just have his body heat up?
Ingrid: Exactly! THAT'S IT! YOU'VE GOT IT because SO!

I have noticed several things (and this is just a start):

- The wording Jessica uses for #9 is different than the rest of the suggestions because she talks about Lane's "body" heating up instead of the heat going away. I think this idea is more agreeable to the group because it is a concept that people have experienced first hand and can be felt. People can imagine heating up from lifting weights, so they are ok with Lane expelling heat from his body instead of the heat spreading into the air, earth, or Lane's hands (all things that were previously suggested).

- Ingrid was the 5th person in the group out of eight to agree with Jessica. She made this idea of heat the majority opinion of the group. (Was she the tipping point that the group needed?) Is a majority agreement usual for ET or does it just require the loudest one to agree?

- I find it interesting that Jessica says, "To hell with heat!" after suggesting it four times. She has decided that the CPE is being converted to KE for Lane and "to hell with heat." But I wonder if this is just a tactic she is using to be a part of the group or if she really did change her mind in the middle? She doesn't given up on heat ultimately, since she brings it up again three minutes later. (Although Leanna jumps on the heat wagon in the middle of Jessica's indecision so perhaps that helped to convince Jessica to return to her idea.) It is fascinating to look at the group pressure on her and how she reacts over the 20 minute period.

- This video also contains some rich points of interest regarding ideas about energy and force comparisons for both Kimberly and Gary that are not part of the heat conversation that could also be interesting to look at in more detail.

I have a 22 minute long clip that I won't make you watch (E1 110812 14:03 ET) but I wanted to point out a few of the things I noticed. If you so desire, I have a content log you can refer to that is going up in the E1 Episodes folder called E1 110812 1403 ET.GPE2Heat.