Question

Carlos plays baseball and wanted to find out the potential energy as a ball gets thrown by the pitcher over time. The table below represents his findings from one pitch and a motion sensor and monitor.
Which of the following conclusions could Carlos determine from his data and graph?




A. As the ball goes to higher heights, the potential energy increases and when it comes back down, the potential energy decreases.


B. As the ball goes to higher heights, the potential energy decreases and when it comes back down, the potential energy does not change.


C. As the ball goes to higher heights, the potential energy decreases and when it comes back down, the potential energy increases.


D. As the ball goes to higher heights, the potential energy increases and when it comes back down, the potential energy does not change.

Answer 1

As we know that potential energy of the ball is given as

$U = mgh$

here we know that

m = mass of the ball

g = acceleration due to gravity

h = height of the ball from ground

now as the ball moves upwards the height of the ball will increase while as the ball will go down the height will decrease

So as per above formula we can say that potential energy of the ball will directly depends on the height of the ball and here first height will increase and then height will decrease.

so here correct answer will be

A. As the ball goes to higher heights, the potential energy increases and when it comes back down, the potential energy decreases.