Question

If a 20 gram bird and a 0.001 gram mosquito are moving at the same speed, which has the higher kinetic energy?why?

Answer 1

Answer:

The bird has 20,000 times higher kinetic energy than the mosquito.

Explanation:

The formula for kinetic energy shows that the amount of energy is proportional to the mass:

$E_k=\frac{1}{2}mv^2$

The velocity of both objects being the same, the mass is the determiner. The ratio of the kinetic energy of the bird and the mosquito then becomes the ratio of their masses, i.e., 0.02kg/0.00001kg. The bird's energy is 20,000 times higher than that of the mosquito. This proportion becomes more believable if you imagine the event of a distracted errant bird colliding with your head, versus a confused mosquito colliding with your head.