As shown below, a student places a 500-gram car at point X on a wooden racetrack in an energy transformation investigation. What outcome is most likely if the student uses a 700-gram car instead? (1 point) Responses A 700-gram car would have more kinetic energy at point X and less potential energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have more kinetic energy at point X and less potential energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have less kinetic energy at point X and less potential energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have less kinetic energy at point X and less potential energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have less potential energy at point X and less kinetic energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have less potential energy at point X and less kinetic energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have more potential energy at point X and more kinetic energy at the bottom of the racetrack A 700-gram car would have more potential energy at point X and more kinetic energy at the bottom of the racetrack

Question

GPT-4o mini · Answer

To analyze the outcome when using a 700-gram car instead of a 500-gram car, we can consider the concepts of potential energy (PE) and kinetic energy (KE).

Potential energy at a height is given by the formula: \[ PE = mgh \] where \( m \) is mass, \( g \) is acceleration due to gravity, and \( h \) is the height.

Since the 700-gram car has a greater mass than the 500-gram car, it will have more potential energy at point X, assuming they are both at the same height. Thus, when the car moves down the racetrack, that potential energy will convert into kinetic energy (KE).

Kinetic energy is given by the formula: \[ KE = \frac{1}{2}mv^2 \] For any given height, a heavier car will end up with more kinetic energy when descending from that height because it started with more potential energy.

Thus, the most reasonable outcome is:

A 700-gram car would have more potential energy at point X because of its larger mass.
It would also have more kinetic energy at the bottom of the racetrack due to the conversion from the additional potential energy.

Therefore, the correct response is:

A 700-gram car would have more potential energy at point X and more kinetic energy at the bottom of the racetrack.