Question

You do work on something when you lift it against gravity. How does this work relate to gravitational potential energy? If the lifted object is released, what becomes of this energy? Be sure to define all terms that you use.

Answer 1

Lifting an object increases the gravitational potential energy of the system. If you release the object, that potential energy will be transformed into the energy of an object in motion which is termed as the kinetic energy as it falls toward earth. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Answer:

Increase in the gravitational potential energy will be equal to the work done by us to raise its height.

If the lifted block is released then this gravitational potential energy will convert into kinetic energy of the block.

Explanation:

As we know that work done done to raise the block against the gravity is given as

$W = F.d$

here force to raise the block will be

$F = mg$

now if it is raised to height "h" then work done is given as

$W = mgh$

so the potential energy stored in the block will be

$U = mgh$

now when this is released from this height then the potential energy will convert to Kinetic energy of the block as it will drop by the given height.

so we have

$KE = U = mgh$