Asked by Carl

A roller coaster is at the top of a 98.2 m hill and has a mass of 1831.0 kg. It is traveling at a velocity of 23.7 m/s. What is the coaster car's TOTAL energy?

I took the eg=1/2mv^2 and plugged in (1831)(9.8)(98.2) and got 1762081.16

I then took the ek= 1/2mv^2 and plugged in 1/2(1831.0)(9.8)(23.7)^2 and got 5039426.51 and then added the 2 values to get a total of 6801507.671

am i right?
Answered by bobpursley
The numbers are correct, but the words are not. The first thing you did was mgh, not 1/2 m v^2

So yes, it is mgh+1/2 mv^2
I didn't check calc work.
Answered by drwls
No. Eg is not (1/2) mV^2. What you say you plugged in, M g H, is correct however.

Your ek should not include a gravity term.
Answered by Carl
ok so i see what i did wrong and got a value of 2276308.355 J
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