Question

10. If the angle of the initial drop in the roller coaster diagram above were 60 degrees (and all other factors were kept constant), would the speed at the bottom of the hill be any different? Explain.See Answer

Answer 1

Assuming the roller coaster still is the same height from the ground after the angle change, the speed at the bottom would not change.

Step-by-step explanation:

The speed of the roller coaster at the bottom of the hill depends on the initial kinetic and potential energies at the top of the hill.

In our case, the roller coaster does not have any kinetic energy at the top of the hill ( it is starting from rest), and therefore, all its energy is stored in the form of gravitational potential energy.

Now, gravitational potential energy depends on the height of the roller coaster above the ground ( remember, the equation for gravitational potential energy is P = mgh). Therefore, if we assume that the angle of inital drop is changed while keeping the height of the roller coaster above the ground constant, then the k