Skate park energy: Basics

Integrated ScienceEnergyAges 14–15

A skater rides on a U-shaped track, or on a track you draw yourself on the Playground screen. Drag the skater up high and let go to see kinetic and potential energy change into each other; turn on friction and part of the mechanical energy becomes thermal energy, so the skater gradually comes to rest. Adapted from the "Energy Skate Park: Basics" simulation by PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder (CC BY 4.0); rewritten.

Lesson: Mechanical energy, conservation of energy