Sam has a 250 g toy car that he launches with a rubber band up a track to do a jump. Sam builds a ramp for his jump that is 0.5 m high and the car is launched at a velocity of 3.0 m/s. With no friction, will the car jump off the end of the ramp?

The kinetic energy of the moving car will be converted to gravitational potential energy as it travels up the ramp. At the point that the car will jump, KE = GPE therefore 1/2 mv^2 = mgh. Therefore, when we manipulate it, if v^2 > 2gh, the car will jump.Putting in numbers: is 3^2>29.80.5? 9 is not greater than 9.8 so the car will not jump.

Answered by Sam B. Physics tutor

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