A moving test carriage collides with a fixed spring-loaded buffer. The carriage comes to rest and the spring is held compressed.
The table lists every energy transfer and store change during the collision except the decrease in the carriage's kinetic store. There are no net changes in any other energy stores.
| Energy change or transfer | Energy in J\mathrm{J}J |
|---|---|
| Increase in the spring's elastic store | 16 50016\,50016500 |
| Increase in thermal stores of the carriage, buffer and surroundings | 3450 |
| Energy carried away by sound waves | 50 |
How much does the energy in the carriage's kinetic store decrease?
19 950 J19\,950\ \mathrm{J}19950 J
16 500 J16\,500\ \mathrm{J}16500 J
16 550 J16\,550\ \mathrm{J}16550 J
20 000 J20\,000\ \mathrm{J}20000 J
121 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 3.1 Energy stores and calculations, covering 3.1.1 Gravitational potential energy, 3.1.2 Kinetic energy, and 3.1.3 Energy transfers and conservation of energy. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.