An elephant, an ant, and a professor jump from a lecture table. Assuming no frictional losses, which of the following could be said about their motion just before they hit the floor?
(a) They all have the same speed.
(b) They all have the same kinetic energy.
(c) They all started with the same gravitational potential energy.
(d) They will all experience the same force on stopping.
2007-04-03 17:55:47 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Kinetic energy is 1/2mv^2 so that cant be it... directly related to mass.
Potential energy is mgh.. so again related to mass cant be that one either... and 2 objects cannot START witht the smae gravitational gravitational potential energy basically means stored energy. and the energy is there already it just has not been used. ie potential energy(mass*gravity*height)=kinetic energy(1/2Mass*velocity^2) so the initial potential energy is equal to the final kinetic energy. so they do not have the same stored gravitational energy, because the final kinetic will be alot higher.
They will experience different force on stopping ie. a heavier object willt ake more force to stop. mg mass*gravity=N so more N(newtons)
the formula for velocity is has nothing to do with mass so A is correct
2007-04-03 18:13:10 · answer #1 · answered by Travis W 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
C.......they may not have the same masses, which means they may not have the same kinetic energy, speed, or force..but the acceleration of gravity remains constant, which means they all started with the same gravitational potential energy
2007-04-04 01:02:09 · answer #2 · answered by chris f 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Only a is correct.
2007-04-04 00:57:56 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
c
2007-04-04 01:37:36 · answer #4 · answered by REALLY 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A and C !
2007-04-04 08:33:34 · answer #5 · answered by javornik1270 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A
2007-04-04 00:58:31 · answer #6 · answered by afi_rockergurl 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋