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You are visiting Six Flags Over Texas and are riding the latest rollercoaster. The coaster, full of people (mass of 1200 kg), travels 16 m/s down the first hill. How much KE (kinetic energy) does the coaster have?

a) 96,000 J
b) 192,000 J
c) 384,000 J
d) 576,000 J

User Bode
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1 Answer

4 votes

Final answer:

The kinetic energy of the rollercoaster full of people with a mass of 1200 kg and a velocity of 16 m/s is 153,600 J, calculated using the formula KE = 0.5 × m × v^2. There seems to be an error as this result does not match any of the provided choices.

Step-by-step explanation:

You are visiting Six Flags Over Texas and are riding the latest rollercoaster. The coaster, full of people with a mass of 1200 kg, travels 16 m/s down the first hill. To calculate the kinetic energy (KE) the coaster has, you can use the kinetic energy formula KE = 0.5 × m × v2, where m is the mass of the object and v is the velocity.

Plugging in the given values:

KE = 0.5 × 1200 kg × (16 m/s)2
KE = 0.5 × 1200 kg × 256 m2/s2
KE = 600 kg × 256 m2/s2
KE = 153,600 J

The kinetic energy of the coaster is then 153,600 J, which is not an answer choice provided.

User Arcade
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