Explaination of Potential,Kinetic,and Total Enrgy involving going up a hill.

[jayced]

Explanation of a cart rolling up a hill as it relates to Kinetic energy,total energy,and potential ener?
For example let's saywe have a cart rolling up a hill:

A)Why is the kinetic energy highest at the bottom of the hill ?
B)Why is the total energy the same throughout?
C)Why is the potential energy of gravity the highest at the top of the hill?

Logically I thought that potential energy was highest at the bottom since it is stored energy would have be the highest at rest and kinetic energy would be highest at the top because its moving. Don't have a idea about total energy.

 

[Jimmy]

Which has the potential to do more work? An object on top of a hill or at the bottom?

If you shove a cart and then allow it to roll freely up a hill, at what point is it moving the fastest? The slowest?

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. An object has more kinetic energy when it is moving faster. The cart rolling up the hill is trading one form of energy for another, but the total energy will remain the same.

 

[kerimek]

A) The kinetic energy of the cart is highest at the bottom of the hill because it has the highest velocity at this point. Kinetic energy is a measure of an object's motion, and the cart has the most motion at the bottom of the hill due to the force of gravity pulling it downwards.
B) The total energy of the cart remains the same throughout its journey up the hill because energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred from one form to another. As the cart moves up the hill, its kinetic energy decreases while its potential energy increases, but the total amount of energy remains constant. This is known as the law of conservation of energy.
C) The potential energy of gravity is highest at the top of the hill because the cart has reached its maximum height and is no longer moving upwards. At this point, all of its kinetic energy has been converted into potential energy due to its position in the Earth's gravitational field. The higher an object is lifted, the greater its potential energy becomes.