Where is kinetic energy the greatest

Since the mass of the pendulum bob won't change, the only way for kinetic energy to change is for the speed of the pendulum to change. Kinetic energy is highest when the velocity is the highest. This occurs at the bottom of the pendulum.

If kinetic energy is highest at the bottom of the pendulum, then that is where potential energy is the lowest. So potential energy would be highest when the pendulum is at its highest point on either side of its motion where it is stationary for an instant. The whole cycle reverses itself on the way down. As you can see, the loss in KE is a gain in PE. Energy is not lost but conserved. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It can be transformed from one form to another, but the total amount of energy never changes.

Potential and Kinetic Energy: Objectives: 1. Define potential energy. This is related to the first concept in that at the bottom of hills all of the potential energy has been converted to kinetic energy, which means more speed.

Likewise, cars always move the slowest at their highest point, which is the top of the first hill. A web-based simulation demonstrating the relationship between vertical position and the speed of a car in a roller coaster various shapes is provided at the MyPhysicsLab Roller Coaster Physics Simulation. This website provides numerical data for simulated roller coaster of various shapes. Friction exists in all roller coasters, and it takes away from the useful energy provided by roller coaster.

Friction is caused in roller coasters by the rubbing of the car wheels on the track and by the rubbing of air and sometimes water! Friction turns the useful energy of the roller coaster gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy into heat energy, which serves no purpose associated with propelling cars along the track. Friction is the reason roller coasters cannot go on forever, so minimizing friction is one of the biggest challenges for roller coaster engineers.

Friction is also the reason that roller coasters can never regain their maximum height after the initial hill unless a second chain lift is incorporated somewhere on the track. Cars can only make it through loops if they have enough speed at the top of the loop. While this calculation is too complex for the vast majority of seventh graders, they will intuitively understand that if a car is not moving fast enough at the top of a loop it will fall. For safety, most roller coasters have wheels on both sides of the track to prevent cars from falling.

Most roller coaster loops are not perfectly circular in shape, but have a teardrop shape called a clothoid. Roller coaster designers discovered that if a loop is circular, the rider experiences the greatest force at the bottom of the loop when the cars are moving fastest.

After many riders sustained neck injuries, the looping roller coaster was abandoned in and revived only in when Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain became the first modern looping roller coaster using a clothoid shape. In a clothoid, the radius of curvature of the loop is widest at the bottom, reducing the force on the riders when the cars move fastest, and smallest at the top when the cars are moving relatively slowly.

This allowed for a smoother, safer ride and the teardrop shape is now in use in roller coasters around the world. Riders may experience weightlessness at the tops of hills negative g-forces and feel heavy at the bottoms of hills positive g-forces. This feeling is caused by the change in direction of the roller coaster. At the top of a roller coaster, the car goes from moving upward to flat to moving downward. This change in direction is known as acceleration and the acceleration makes riders feel as if a force is acting on them, pulling them out of their seats.

Similarly, at the bottom of hills, riders go from moving downward to flat to moving upward, and thus feel as if a force is pushing them down into their seats. These forces can be referred to in terms of gravity and are called gravitational forces, or g-forces. One "g" is the force applied by gravity while standing on Earth at sea level. The human body is used to existing in a 1 g environment.

If the acceleration of a roller coaster at the bottom of a hill is equal to the acceleration of gravity 9. If the acceleration at the bottom of the hill is twice the acceleration of gravity, the overall force is 3 gs.

If this acceleration acts instead at the top of a hill, it is subtracted from the standard 1 g. In this way, it can be less than 1 g, and it can even be negative.

If the acceleration at the top of a hill were equal to the acceleration of gravity, the overall force would be zero gs. If the acceleration at the top of the hill were twice the acceleration of gravity, the resulting overall force would be negative 1 g.

At zero gs, a rider feels completely weightless and at negative gs, they feel as though a force is lifting them out of the seat. This concept may be too advanced for students, but they should understand the basic principles and where g-forces greater than or less than 1 g can occur, even if they cannot fully relate them to the acceleration of the roller coaster. Watch this activity on YouTube.

Is equal to change in velocity divided by time. The force exerted on an object by the Earth's gravity at sea level. Is equal to 9.

In this lesson, we use gravitational potential energy, which is directly related to the height of an object and its mass. The distance that object travels divided by the time it takes. Before the lesson, make sure students have a firm handle on gravity, friction, potential and kinetic energy, and the basics of motion. Bottom of the hill. Same kinetic energy at both points. This is not an example of kinetic energy. Which is the best example that something has kinetic energy?

What is potential energy? When an object is in motion. When an object is not in motion. What kind of energy is in a rock at the edge of a cliff? At which point is potential energy greatest? At which point is potential energy the greatest? Potential energy that depends on height is called. I have the most potential energy if I am:.

None of the above.