Energy Skate Park Lab

Want to learn more about the Law of Conservation of Energy??

In this interactive from PhET, you can manipulate variables related to the skate boarder's motion along a ramp to see how energy is conserved and how forces relate to motion.

To begin, click on "Intro." Add the bar graph so you can see the energy changes. Consider these while you play around:

• What do you observe when the mass of the skateboarder changes?
• What do you observe when the friction changes?

And try out the "Playground" mode by building your own ramp! Observe how energy and motion changes when the shape of the ramp changes.

Think about what you learned in 1.03 with Newton's Laws of Motion!

Happy learning!