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Example Questions
Example Question #14 : Conservation Of Energy
2 objects(named object A and object B) of equal masses and initial kinetic energy collide onto one another. During the collision, object A loses  of its kinetic energy, which object B gains. Assume mass of both objects remain unchanged.Â
By what factor will the velocity of the object A change after the collision?Â
Velocity will change by a factor ofÂ
Velocity will change by a factor ofÂ
Velocity will change by a factor ofÂ
Velocity will change by a factor ofÂ
Velocity will change by a factor ofÂ
Kinetic energy  is related to velocity
 and massÂ
 by
Object A's kinetic energy has decreased by . We know that its mass hasn't changed.Â
Relate velocity to kinetic energy, while mass is not changing
Since  has changed by a factor ofÂ
,Â
 will change by a factor of
Example Question #161 : Work, Energy, And Power
A roller coaster cart is starting at rest at a height of . It goes down the track and around a loop. Assuming there is no friction between the track and the cart, what is the velocity of the cart when it has come out of the loop at the bottom of the track in miles per hour?
None of these
Conservation of energy is a very powerful tool for solving some mechanics problems. If we used Newtonian mechanics this would be a lot more difficult. The conservation of energy for the cart denotes:
Where  is the kinetic energy of the system and
 is the potential energy. Â
and
 are defined by:
When the cart is at the top of the track it is at rest. This means that there is no initial kinetic energy. When the cart is at the bottom of the track it's height is zero, so it has no final potential energy. Therefore,
Notice that the mass cancels. Solve for :
Convert to miles per hour:
Example Question #202 : Ap Physics 1
You are in Paris, France, holding on to a tennis ball of mass .
Â
You throw it straight up. It leaves your hand two meters above the ground at a speed of .
Â
What is the maximum height above the ground the ball obtains?
Â
You may use as your acceleration.
None of these
We will use conservation of energy to help us.
Â
We will treat our initial situation as the moment the ball left the hand, and the final situation as the ball at the maximum height.
Â
Â
Â
Mass cancels out
Â
Â
will be zero at our maximum height
Â
Â
Rearranging our equatin to solve for
Â
Â
We then plug in our values
Example Question #203 : Ap Physics 1
An object of mass falls from aÂ
tall building.
Determine the velocity just before hitting the ground.
None of these
Use conservation of energy:
At the moment of dropping, there will be no velocity and thus no kinetic energy. Right before hitting the ground, there will be no height, and this no potential energy.
Solve for velocity:
Example Question #204 : Ap Physics 1
An object of mass falls from aÂ
tall building.
Determine the momentum just before hitting the ground.
None of these
Use conservation of energy
At the moment of dropping, there will be no velocity and thus no kinetic energy. Right before hitting the ground, there will be no height, and this no potential energy.
Solve for velocity:
Use definition of momentum:
Example Question #21 : Conservation Of Energy
An object of mass falls from aÂ
tall building.
Determine the potential energy after the object has fallen .
None of these
Use the formula for potential energy due to gravity:
Example Question #206 : Ap Physics 1
An object of mass falls from aÂ
tall building.
Determine the kinetic energy of the object 1.5S after being dropped.
None of these
First, use the velocity update kinematic equation:
Then use the definition of kinetic energy:
Example Question #22 : Conservation Of Energy
A solid disk of mass  and radiusÂ
 rolls down a frictionless incline of heightÂ
 and angleÂ
. The disk starts from rest at the top of the ramp, and the moment of inertia of the disk is
If the mass rolls without slipping, what is the linear velocity of the mass at the bottom of the ramp in terms of ,Â
,Â
,Â
, andÂ
?
Since the ramp is frictionless and the disk rolls without slipping, we can infer two things: one conservation of energy applies here, and two we have the condition that , whereÂ
 is the linear velocity, andÂ
 is the angular velocity. For convenience, we will set the potential energy to 0 at the bottom of the ramp, since then for the final energy of the disk will not contain any potential energy terms. Now the initial energy of the diskÂ
 will be all potential energy, since the disk starts rolling from rest. ThusÂ
, its gravitational potential energy. At the bottom of the ramp, it will not have any potential energy, but it will have two types of kinetic energy: translational kinetic energy due to the fact that the disk itself is moving down the ramp, and rotational kinetic energy due to the fact that the disk is rotating about its center. Thus its final energyÂ
 is given byÂ
Â
Where the first term is the translational kinetic energy contribution, and the second term is the rotational kinetic energy contribution. Now, applying conservation of energy gives us:
Since we are solving for  the linear velocity, we use the fact thatÂ
 and also we replace the moment of inertiaÂ
 withÂ
 to obtain the following:
Now we solve for  by multiplying each side byÂ
 and then taking the square root. We obtain:Â
Thus the linear velocity is given byÂ
Example Question #207 : Ap Physics 1
A spring-loaded pop gun fires a dart out of the muzzle at . The spring inside is compressed a distance ofÂ
 and the dart has a mass ofÂ
.
What is the spring constant for the spring in the popgun?
The popgun compresses a spring and stores potential energy in the spring. The spring then releases and fires the dart, converting all of the potential energy in the spring into kinetic energy which launches the dart out of the gun at . Therefore, we can use conservation of energy to find the value of the spring constant. The initial energy is given by
Where  is the spring constant andÂ
 is the compression distance. Because the dart is sitting in the gun, there is no initial kinetic energy. The final energy is given byÂ
Where  is the mass of the dart, andÂ
 is the velocity of the dart. From the givens in the problem, we know thatÂ
,Â
, andÂ
Â
Now we apply conservation of energy. We have:
To solve for , we multiply each side of the equation byÂ
 to obtain:
Therefore the spring constant is .
Example Question #21 : Conservation Of Energy
An trampolinist's motion is tracked by a software to determine their motion. The trampolinist weighs .
Suppose the trampolinist is traveling up at a speed of  atÂ
 up, reaches a peak ofÂ
, and comes back down to the same height of
 coming down atÂ
. Determine the energy lost to the environment.Â
Energy must be conserved. To determine energy lost to the environment, we simply subtract the energies when the trampolinist was going up to the energy they have coming down.
Since the trampolinist is at the same height, the gravitational potential energy is the same. However, their kinetic energy has changed, and this change is equivalent to the energy gained by the environment:
, whereÂ
 is mass andÂ
 is their velocity.Â
Since we know both velocities and masses, we plug into the above equation:
Since that much energy was lost, that must have been gained by the environment:
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