Question

Two students of equal weight go from the first floor to the second floor. The first student uses an elevator and the second student walks up a flight of stairs. Compared to the gravitational potential energy gained by the first student, the gravitational potential energy gained by the second student is _________.(1) less (2) greater (3) the same

Answer 1

Answer: Option 3: THE SAME

Explanation:

The gravitational potential at a point or location is equal to the work per unit mass of a certain body that would be needed to move the body to that point from a reference point or location. The gravitational potential of both the first student that used the elevator and the second student that used the stairs are THE SAME because they both moved from referenced location (first floor) to the other location(second floor) and work is done per unit mass.