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Question A full can and an empty can are rolled down a ramp. What happens and why? Asked by: Lei Bao Answer The full can will roll faster than the empty can and reach the bottom of the ramp first. This can be explained through the conservation of energy.
Assume the 2 cans have the same mass (actually, the mass doesn't matter, it will cancel out of the equations anyway, but the argument will be more clear this way). As the cans sit at the top of the ramp, they are at the same height (h) with the same mass (m), and so have the same gravitational potential energy: PE =mgh. As they move down the ramp, this energy will convert into 2 things: translational kinetic energy heading down the ramp with velocity=v and KEt =(1/2) mv2, and rotational kinetic energy as the material of the cans spin around their central axes KEr = (1/2)I
Now for in reality there will be some internal friction between the walls of the can and the liquid, and a viscous liquid will have considerable internal friction as well, but these should not suck away enough of the kinetic energy to slow the full can down to the speed of the empty can.
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