Question

When a roller coaster is at the top of a steep hill, its potential energy is maximum. When it hurdles down the slope and comes to the bottom, the potential energy reduces greatly. Hence we can say that the law of conservation of energy is not valid here since energy is destroyed.

(a) True

(b) False

The question was posed to me by my school principal while I was bunking the class.

My question is taken from Various Forms of Energy : The Law of Conservation of Energy in chapter Work, Energy and Power of Physics – Class 11

Answer 1

Right answer is (b) False

The explanation: When a roller coaster is at the top of a steep hill, its potential energy is maximum. When it hurdles down the slope and comes to the bottom, the potential energy reduces greatly. However, kinetic energy increases. Thus, there is a change from potential energy to kinetic energy and hence no destruction of energy.