Help Needed: Solving a Physics Assignment with Marble and Ramp

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The physics assignment involves determining whether a marble at the top of a ramp converts all its potential energy into kinetic energy at the bottom. To achieve a higher grade, students should explore factors that may cause energy loss, such as air resistance, friction, or sound. Measuring the marble's speed at the bottom and the time it takes to travel a certain distance can provide valuable data. The assignment encourages deeper analysis beyond simple calculations. Understanding these energy transformations is key to completing the task successfully.
missphysics12
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need urgent helllllp!

im in year 12 at the moment and our new physics teacher has set us an assignment. it is very deceptively simple he informs us.
it reads: does a marble at the top of a ramp convert all of its potential energy up the top, into kinetic energy at the bottom of the ramp...or something along those lines. he has given us a hint by telling us "predictions". he says we can either do simple calculations and get 50% or find out what he wants from this and achieve an awesome result. i can't seem to see what he wants us to find out so anyone's help would be greatly appreciated? he has given us a ramp and a marble...
im stuck pleeeeease help!
amber.
 
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It seems you need to measure the speed of the marble at the bottom. Maybe measure how long it takes to cover a certain horizontal distance once it left the ramp?
 
missphysics12 said:
does a marble at the top of a ramp convert all of its potential energy up the top, into kinetic energy at the bottom

Maybe the teacher is asking whether there are some ways that energy might be lost by the system as the marble rolls down.
 
Those being things like air resistence or maybe some minor heat or sound
 
The book claims the answer is that all the magnitudes are the same because "the gravitational force on the penguin is the same". I'm having trouble understanding this. I thought the buoyant force was equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. Weight depends on mass which depends on density. Therefore, due to the differing densities the buoyant force will be different in each case? Is this incorrect?

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