Energy+-+Calla​

The roller coaster starts climbing, up, and up you go. As the ride nears the top of the first drop, the adrenalines pumping, people’s hearts beating fast. You are probably too excited to notice, but there are two types of energy on a rollercoaster: kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy. At the beginning of the ride, there is more gravitational potential energy, or GPE, than there is kinetic energy, or KE. The reason for this is because at the beginning, the rollercoaster is not moving very fast, but it is gaining the potential to fall as it moves up the slope. The energy shifts between KE and GPE throughout the ride. At point one, the first major drop on the ride, for instance, the GPE is at the most it can be because point one is the highest point on the ride and the rollercoaster can go no higher than at that point. This is because at the top of the first drop, the rollercoaster has no choice but to come down. Point four is another excellent example of a high amount of GPE. As the ride is going around in a loop, at the top of the loop, the ride has no choice but to come down. However, at points one and four, since the gravitational potential energy is at the highest point it can be, this means that there is no kinetic energy. There is around half and half or a little more GPE at these points because there will always be kinetic energy in an object if it is moving, no matter how slow, but since the object slowed down and the height increases, some of the kinetic energy is getting converted into gravitational potential energy. In comparison, though, at point five on the ride, there is complete kinetic energy and zero gravitational potential energy because the rollercoaster has reached one of the lowest points it can go and it is moving at a very fast speed. A rollercoaster is not only a good way to let people let loose their fears: it also is, just like many other objects in the world, a way that KE and GPE is connected. GPE can turn into KE when it is dropped; KE turns into GPE when the object starts to move upward. Up, down, up, down. You are probably too concerned about the ride to notice, but all around you, even not on the rollercoaster, there is kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy, becoming formed and transferring into more energy.