Question

What is the kinetic energy of a 1700 kg car traveling at a speed of 30 m/s (â65 mph)? does your answer to part b depend on the car's mass?

Answer 1

The kinetic energy of an object is given by
$K= \frac{1}{2} mv^2$
where m is the mass of the object and v its velocity.

For the car in the problem, $m=1700 kg$ and $v=30 m/s$, so the kinetic energy of the car is
$K= \frac{1}{2}mv^2= \frac{1}{2}(1700 kg)(30 m/s)^2=7.65\cdot 10^5 J$

and as we can see, yes, the answer depends on the car's mass.