Potential energy is energy attributed to an object by virtue of its position. When the position changes, the total energy remains unchanged but is converted to a different type of energy, like kinetic energy. The frictionless roller coaster is a classic potential and kinetic energy example problem. The roller coaster problem shows how to use the conservation of energy to find the velocity and position of a car on a frictionless track with different heights. The total energy of the cart is expressed as the sum of its gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. This total energy remains constant across the length of the track.
The cart travels along a frictionless roller coaster track. At point A, the cart is 10.0 m above the ground and traveling at 2.00 m/s. What is the velocity at point B when the cart reaches the ground?
Calculate the velocity of the cart at point C.
What is the maximum height the cart can reach before the cart stops and comes to rest with a velocity of zero (zero kinetic energy)?