Why do you think that the first hill on the roller coaster must be the tallest Explain in kinetic and potential terms?

Answer 1

When the cars go up the first hill, energy is put into the system through some machine (what pulls the cars up). From here on out, there are usually no more additions in energy to the system. Thus, at the top of the first hill, the cars have the highest potential energy. As the cars move down the first hill and up the second, some of the energy is lost through the heat given off by friction. So, the total energy of the system goes down. This means that, after each hill, the cars will have less energy and cannot go up a hill the same height as the first.

Since the cars lose kinetic energy through friction, each hill must be smaller than the last until the ride ends or another booster puts more energy into the system.