Question

Victor rode an escalator from the first floor to the second floor of a shopping mall. What happened to the gravitational potential energy stored between victor and earth as he rode the escalator?

Answer 1

The gravitational potential energy increases

Explanation:

The gravitational potential energy of an object is the energy possessed by the object due to its position in a gravitational field. At the Earth's surface, it is given by

$PE=mgh$

where

m is the mass of the object

g is the strength of the gravitational field

h is the height of the object relative to the ground

In this problem, Victor is on the escalator, and he moves from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor. This means that its height above the ground, h, increases. However, we see from the formula that the potential energy is directly proportional to h:

$PE \propto h$

Therefore, since h increases, the potential energy increases as well.

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