Part III: If a mouse and an elephant both run with the same kinetic energy, can you say which is running faster? Use the space b
elow to thoroughly explain your answer (hint: use the book, slides, and other resources to pull information to support your answer - remember, KE = ½ m*v²).
The mouse runs faster to have the same kinetic energy as the elephant.
Explanation:
Note from the equation given, mass (m) is directly proportional to KE. This means an elephant with more mass will have more KE, therefore, for the mouse to compensate, it has to run faster because its KE is smaller because of its small mass. If both run at the same speed, the elephant would have thousands of times more kinetic energy than the mouse. So the mouse has to run faster so that its speed compansates for its smaller weight.
