Rollercoaster up to the top of a lift.

[Frank_Horrigan]

As you may have noticed I've got a bit of a rollercoaster theme going.

My problem now is i have an 800 kg cart and I need to calculate the work done by bringing it to the top of the rollercoaster. The slope of the lift is 20 degrees and the maximum height is 30 m. From this i calculated the distance it will travel to get to the top is 87.7m. Now I'm at a snap because I have the distance but I don't have the force so I can't think of how to calculate work. Any suggestions?

 

[Doc Al]

Is friction involved? Or is mechanical energy conserved?

 

[thepatientmental]

Calculating the work done in this scenario requires two components: the force applied and the distance traveled. In this case, the force applied would be the force exerted by the rollercoaster's engine or mechanism to bring the cart up the lift. This force can be calculated using the mass of the cart (800 kg) and the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2). This will give you the force required to lift the cart, which can then be used to calculate the work done.

The work done can be calculated using the formula W = Fd, where W is work, F is force, and d is distance. In this case, the distance traveled is 87.7 m, which you have already calculated. Now, using the force calculated earlier, you can plug in the values to the formula and calculate the work done to bring the cart to the top of the rollercoaster.

I hope this helps! Keep up the rollercoaster theme, it's a fun and interesting way to approach problem-solving. Good luck!