On a playground slide, a child has potential energy that decreases by 1000 J while her kinetic energy increases by only 900 J. How much energy is missing and where did it go?
What do you think?
To find the missing energy and determine where it went, we need to apply the principle of conservation of energy. According to this principle, energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transferred or transformed from one form to another.
In this situation, the child's potential energy decreases by 1000 J while her kinetic energy increases by only 900 J. The missing energy represents the amount of energy that has been lost or transformed into another form.
To calculate the missing energy, we can use the equation:
Missing energy = Initial potential energy - Final potential energy - Increase in kinetic energy
First, let's assume the initial potential energy is P and the final potential energy is P - 1000 J (since the potential energy decreases by 1000 J). The increase in kinetic energy is 900 J.
Missing energy = P - (P - 1000 J) - 900 J
Missing energy = P - P + 1000 J - 900 J
Missing energy = 100 J
Therefore, the missing energy is 100 J.
Now, let's determine where this missing energy went. Since energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it must have been transformed into another form. In this case, the missing energy could have been converted into various forms, such as:
1. Heat: Some of the energy might have been lost as heat due to friction between the child and the slide, or air resistance acting on the child while sliding.
2. Sound: A small portion of the energy might have transformed into sound energy due to the child's movement on the slide.
3. Vibrational energy: The energy could have caused vibrations in the slide or other objects in contact with the slide, converting some of it into vibrational energy.
4. Other losses: There could be other minor energy losses due to factors like deformations in the slide or dissipation of energy into the surroundings.
It's important to note that the exact distribution of the missing energy into different forms might vary based on the specific circumstances of the slide and its surroundings.