A skateboarder jumps into a half pipe. Ignoring energy losses due to friction describe what happens to the total mechanical energy of the system if (a) the system includes only the skater, and (b) the system includes Earth and the skater.
(a) As the system includes only the skater, the total mechanical energy only consists of the kinetic energy of the skator, while skator is experiencing an external force of weight. Work done by the external force will be equal to the change in total mechanical energy. Hence the total mechanical energy is not constant. It is maximum when the skater is at the bottom of the half-pipe and it decreases as the skater climbs up.
(b) In this case, no net external forces act on the system that includes earth and the skater, hence the total mechanical energy will be constant.
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