Rolling: Energy in Two Places at Once

You'll learnhow rolling splits energy between translation and rotation, deciding the race.

A sphere, a disk, and a hoop leave the same height with the same energy — and don’t arrive together. Watch each shape’s budget split between going and spinning, and the race explains itself.

8 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · g = 10 m/s² · v5

ROLLING LAB

Before you start

What you're looking at

A solid sphere, a solid disk, and a hoop — same mass and radius — poised atop identical ramps.

The question

Released together from the same height, which shape reaches the flag first?

Watch for

How each shape spends its energy budget between going and spinning as it rolls down.

What the symbols mean

Solid blue = translational KE, striped green = rotational KE, amber = unspent gravitational potential energy.

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