Question

if the mass of the marble is 0.025kg, and you assume that on the first drop of your roller coaster (height=8cm) the marble is falling at exactly the rate of gravity (9.8m/s^2), what is the force of the marble? What is its potential energy in the beginning?

Answer 1

1. What is the force of the marble?

For an object near the surface of the earth, the gravitational force acting upon the object is given by:

F = mg

F is the gravitational force, m is the object's mass, and g is the acceleration of objects due to earth's gravity.

Given values:

m = 0.025kg, g = 9.8m/s²

Plug in the given values and solve for F:

F = 0.025×9.8

F = 0.25N

2. What is the marble's potential energy at the start of its fall?

The gravitational potential energy of an object near the earth's surface is given by:

PE = mgh

PE is the potential energy, m is the object's mass, g is the acceleration of objects due to earth's gravity, and h is the object's relative height.

new given values:

h = 0.08m

Since F = mg, you can simply multiply F×h to get PE. Use the result from question 1:

PE = F×h

PE = 0.25×0.08

PE = 0.02J