Question

An object has 1200 J of gravitational potential energy when it is dropped. Right when the object hits the ground how much kinetic energy does it have?

Answer 1

Answer:

The kinetic energy is 1200 J

Explanation:

The Principle of Conservation of energy states that "energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is transformed".

This means that energy can be transformed from one form to another, but the total amount of energy always remains constant, that is, the total energy is the same before and after each transformation.

The mechanical energy of a body or a physical system is the sum of its kinetic energy and the potential energy. According to the Principle of Conservation of Energy for mechanical energy, the total mechanical energy that a body possesses is constant at every instant of time.

Since mechanical energy is equal to the sum of kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy that a body possesses, the only way to stay constant is that:

• when the kinetic energy increases the gravitational potential energy decreases,
• when gravitational potential energy increases, kinetic energy decreases.

Due to the Principle of Conservation of Energy you can say that the gravitational potential energy is converted to kinetic energy.  So Gravitational potential energy at the top = kinetic energy at the bottom

The kinetic energy is 1200 J