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Energy Change In Roller Coasters

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Energy Changes(Conservation of energy):
Roller coasters are carried up to the top of the first hill using a lift motor but after that the rest of the ride relies on the work done by gravity. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, the faster something is moving, the more kinetic energy it has. Gravitational potential energy on the other hand is energy a object has because of its height. When something is lifted above the ground, work is done to lift the object against the force of gravity, resulting in the object having potential energy that can be used later.
The lift motor exerts energy to the roller coaster, giving it gravitational potential energy at the top of the hill. This energy will then be converted into kinetic energy when the coaster …show more content…

Ignoring friction, the sum of all potential and kinetic energy will always be the same, which means the train will have sufficient energy to get back up the first hill after completing the course. However, in reality this doesn’t happen as energy is lost to friction from air resistance and heat. The following hills will get lower and lower after as energy of the ride decreases, meaning total EP and Ek decreases so the roller coaster won’t be able to reach the same heights after each hill. At the end of the course the energy remaining is used up by friction from the brakes make the ride come to a complete …show more content…

When the roller coaster is on the track, gravity force pulls the coaster straight down towards the earth this results in the track producing an equal and opposite reaction force to counter gravity. When the roller coaster goes through the loop, the velocity of the coaster wants to move forward with constant speed (Newton’s first law), however the track is in the way, so the coaster creates a force that pushes into the curving track, producing a reaction force, that is tangent to the track, towards the center of the loop, causing centripetal acceleration and force. This normal force provides the sufficient centripetal force that the ride needs to complete the loop. If the roller coaster moves with greater velocity, it will push harder into the loop, creating greater reaction force and therefore greater centripetal force, this means the reaction and centripetal forces depend on how fast the roller coaster is

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