roller coster – HIgh School Equivalent

Roller Coaster Energy — GPE & KE

Gravitational Potential Energy of a Roller Coaster

Drag the car along the track — or tap a step button to explore

Car mass: 1000 kg

Hill height: 45 m

g = 10 N/kg

▶ Drag the red car along the track — double-tap to resume animation

GPE — m × g × h

450,000 J

h = 45 m

KE — ½mv²

0 J

v = 0 m/s

Total energy

450,000 J

GPE + KE = constant

Speed at this point

0 m/s

max: 30 m/s

Tap a step above, or drag the car to see energy change live.

Fig. 9.16 — Transferring energy from GPE to KE and back again.