Gr11 Percentage of Kinetic Energy

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves calculating the percentage of kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy for a scenario where a person slides down a slide. The context includes initial conditions such as the person's initial velocity and the height of the slide.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the conversion of gravitational energy to kinetic energy and question how to calculate the percentages of each type of energy before and after sliding. There is also confusion about the presence of friction and the interpretation of the question.

Discussion Status

Some participants are exploring the initial conditions and total energy involved, while others are clarifying the question's wording and the assumptions regarding energy conversion. There is no explicit consensus yet, but guidance on considering initial kinetic energy and total mechanical energy has been provided.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the question may be confusing due to its wording and the assumption that not all gravitational energy is converted to kinetic energy. The lack of friction is also highlighted as a relevant factor in the discussion.

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The numbers aren't important whereas I just need an approach.
So the question goes like this, Jake slid down a slide at a velocity of X m/s (initial velocity), the slide is Y m tall.

a) how much (%) kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy are there before and after Jake slid down the slide?
b) what feature of the slide caused it to be in this way?

ps. it's not Eg = 100% and Ek = 0% before Jake slid down

thx
 
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I don't quite understand the question. First, is there friction? Second, if Jake is sliding down, shouldn't gravitational energy be converted to kinetic instead of the other way round?
 
there is no friction, and yes gravitational energy is converted to kinetic, but the question's asking how much (what percentage) of gravitational energy is NOT converted... it is kinda confusing but it is how the teacher worded it O.o

actually, we can ignore it. I'm actually more curious about how you would calculate the the percentage of gravitational and kinetic energy in the first place (obviously it's not simply Eg = 100% and Ek = 0% before Jake slid down)

thank you for your reply and i'll revise the question a bit
 
Jake had x m/s initial velocity , so the initial KE was not zero

The total energy at the beginning E= KE(i) +PE(i).

The problem asks the percentage of both the KE and PE with respect to the total mechanical energy. ehild
 

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