Question

Sophia is planning on going down an 8-m water slide. Her weight is 50 N. She knows that she has gravitational potential energy (GPE) at various points on the slide. At each point, her GPE can be found by using an equation.

GPE = weight × height above ground

Explain the relationship between GPE and height as height increases. Provide another example of this explanation. Then, infer what happens to Sophia’s kinetic energy if her GPE decreases.

Answer 1

Answer:The higher up an object is the greater its gravitational potential energy. The larger the distance something falls through the greater the amount of GPE the object loses as it falls. As most of this GPE gets changed into kinetic energy, the higher up the object starts from the faster it will be falling when it hits the ground.  So a change in gravitational potential energy depends on the height an object moves through.

Explanation: Lifting an apple up 1 metre is easier work than lifting an apple tree the same height. This is because a tree has more mass, so it needs to be given more gravitational potential energy to reach the same height.

Answer 2

The Sophia's gravitational potential energy increases with increase in height.

The gravitational potential energy of an object is the energy possessed by the object due to its position above the ground.

P.E = mgh

where;

• m is the mass of the object
• g is acceleration due to gravity
• h is the height above the ground.

As the potential energy increases, the kinetic energy decreases in order to conserve mechanical energy.

Thus, we can conclude that the Sophia's gravitational potential energy increases with increase in height.

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