Question

Andrea and the other members of the tennis team are practicing hitting tennis balls. If two people hit identical balls at the same time, which ball has the most kinetic energy?
A.
the ball that travels the farthest distance from the ground
B.
the ball that stops moving first
C.
the ball that lands the shortest distance away
D.
the ball that moves at the fastest speed

Answer 1

If two people hit identical tennis balls at the same time, the ball that has the most kinetic energy is the ball that moves at the fastest speed.

Explanation:

The energy possessed by an object by virtue of its motion is called its kinetic energy indicating that only moving objects have kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of an object depends on its speed and mass.

It is given by the expression

$K=1/2 mv^2$

where m denotes the mass of the object and v denotes its velocity.

since kinetic energy is directly proportional to the square of the velocity, the kinetic energy of an object increases with its velocity.

Hence an object that moves at the fastest speed will have the most kinetic energy.