Physics 11-17-11 Potential Energy & the Work Energy Theorem

PHYSICS: Speaking of balancing acts, this has been one more week, hasn’t it – and it’s only Thursday! Thanks to all of you who gave blood or tried to give blood today! Here’s the lecture from Thursday on potential energy. And here’s something to think about for tomorrow – why is the first hill of a roller coaster always the highest?


flickr photo by James Jordan

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3 thoughts on “Physics 11-17-11 Potential Energy & the Work Energy Theorem

  1. To answer the question in the lesson description, wouldn’t the roller coaster need the first hill as the largest so that it would have the greatest potential energy at the beginning. This would allow the roller coaster to have the greatest kinetic energy at the bottom of the hill. As I understood it in class, potential energy changes into kinetic over the course of the hill. Is this a correct assumption?

  2. I agree with Zach, wouldn’t the highest hill at the beginning would have the greatest potential energy, allowing a greater kinetic energy throughout the rest of the roller coaster?

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