This page organizes the solved example problems from energy into several common categories. Most problems appear in more than one category. The entire list of energy problems is shown in the table of contents in the left navigation bar.
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Conservation of Energy
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Bungee Jump — Bungee jumps involve elastic and gravitational potential energy.
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Bungee Jumping for the Brave — A more complicated version of the Bungee Jump problem.
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Roller Coaster Diet? — A good roller coaster uses significant turning accelerations to produce large swings in the rider's apparent weight.
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Path Independence — An illustration of the path independence of gravitational work.
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Down the Ramp — Find the acceleration of a ball rolling without slipping on an inclined plane.
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Down the Well — A mass falling while attached to a massive pulley.
Non-Conservative Work
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When 7000 hp Just Isn't Enough — Explore the kinematics of constant power (as opposed to constant force).
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Give it a Kick — A standard example from work and energy.
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Why are you always so negative? — Explore the reason that kinetic friction usually produces negative work.
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Pull Harder! — Examine the work needed to change the radius of rotation of an object rotating in a circle.
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A Walk on the Pond — How far will two children slide after a perfectly inelastic collision?
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Down the Alley — Determine the final speed of a ball that is initially sliding without rotation.
Graviational Potential Energy
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Bungee Jump — Bungee jumps involve elastic and gravitational potential energy.
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Give it a Kick — A standard example from work and energy.
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Bungee Jumping for the Brave — A more complicated version of the Bungee Jump problem.
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Roller Coaster Diet? — A good roller coaster uses significant turning accelerations to produce large swings in the rider's apparent weight.
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Path Independence — An illustration of the path independence of gravitational work.
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Mass on a Vertical Spring — Another case of Simple Harmonic Motion, this time with gravity (near-earth) thrown in.
Elastic Potential Energy
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Bungee Jump — Bungee jumps involve elastic and gravitational potential energy.
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Bungee Jumping for the Brave — A more complicated version of the Bungee Jump problem.
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Rotational Kinetic Energy
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Rotating a Space Ship — Changes in Angular Velocity when the Moment of Inertia is changed, but no torque applied.
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Pull Harder! — Examine the work needed to change the radius of rotation of an object rotating in a circle.
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Twirling Skater — Changes in Angular Velocity when the Moment of Inertia is changed, but no torque applied.
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Down the Alley — Determine the final speed of a ball that is initially sliding without rotation.
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Down the Ramp — Find the acceleration of a ball rolling without slipping on an inclined plane.
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Down the Well — A mass falling while attached to a massive pulley.