Question

A proposed ride at the Valley Fair amusement park launches a roller coaster car up an inclined track. Near the top of the track, the car reverses direction and rolls backwards into the station. As a member of the safety committee, you have been asked to compute the acceleration of the car throughout the ride and determine if the acceleration of an object moving up a ramp is different from that of an object moving down the same ramp. To check your results, you decide to build a laboratory model of the ride.

Make a rough sketch of the acceleration vs. time graph for the cart moving down the inclined track. On the same MOTION UP AND DOWN AN INCLINE graph, sketch how you think the acceleration vs. time graph will look for the cart moving up the track at the same angle.

Do you think the magnitude of the cart’s acceleration as it moves up an inclined track will increase, decrease, or stay the same? What about the magnitude of the cart’s acceleration as it moves down a track inclined at the same angle? Explain your reasoning. Does the direction of the cart’s acceleration change throughout its motion, or stay the same? Remember, for a direct comparison to the problem Motion Down an Incline, you should use the same coordinate system.

Answer 1

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