When you ride a slingshot at an amusement park, the experience involves the conversion of potential energy and kinetic energy as the ride operates.
At the starting point, when you are loaded into the slingshot and held back, you have a certain amount of elastic potential energy stored in the slingshot’s mechanism. As you are launched into the air, this elastic potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, which is the energy of motion.
When you reach the top of the shot, your speed decreases due to the force of gravity acting against your upward motion. At the very top of the shot, your kinetic energy is at its lowest point, and your potential energy (gravitational potential energy) is at its highest because you are at the maximum height of the ride.
In summary, at the top of the shot:
- The potential energy is at its maximum because you are at a high elevation.
- The kinetic energy is at its minimum because your speed is reduced (approaching zero at the very highest point if you momentarily stop before descending).
So, to compare: at the top of the shot, the potential energy is greater than the kinetic energy.