Conservation of Energy: Pushing It Off a Cliff
Waterfalls display both potential and kinetic energyCopyright commons.wikimedia.org
This lesson focuses on the conservation of energy solely between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy, moving students into the Research and Revise step. Students start out with a virtual laboratory, and then move into the notes and working of problems as a group. A few questions are given as homework. A set of associated activities focus on roller coasters to study the kinetic and potential energies found on the ride. The lesson is concluded in the Test Your Mettle phase of the Legacy Cycle.
Engineers design solutions for our world. Engineers must first master the physical laws that rule our world before designing something that takes advantage of those laws. Different forms of energy are harnessed and used by many different types of engineers. The broader application of this lesson focuses on the transfer of energy within a vehicle and harnessing that energy so it is not lost.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Describe the types of mechanical energy.
- List the various forms of potential energy.
- Apply the conservation of energy to problems strictly between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy.
- Explain why mechanical energy is not always conserved.