Learning standards covered by this activity:
Major Understanding
- 4.1a All energy transfers are governed by the law of conservation of energy.
- 4.1c Potential energy is the energy an object possesses by virtue of its position or condition. Types of potential energy include gravitational and elastic.
- 4.1d Kinetic energy is the energy an object possesses by virtue of its motion.
- 4.1e In an ideal mechanical system, the sum of the macroscopic kinetic and potential energies (mechanical energy) is constant.
- 4.1f In a non-ideal mechanical system, as mechanical energy decreases there is a corresponding increase in other energies such as internal energy.
- 4.1g When work is done on or by a system, there is a change in the total energy of the system.
Process Skill
- 4.1 i Describe and explain the exchange among potential energy, kinetic energy, and internal energy for simple mechanical systems, such as a pendulum, a roller coaster, a spring, a freely falling object
The above learning standards were taken from the Core Curriculum Physical Setting/Physics, The University of the State of New York, The State Education Department.
Continue reading ‘Roller Coasters’
