Question

A shooting star is a meteoroid that burns up when it reaches Earth’s atmosphere. Many of these meteoroids are quite small. Compare the kinetic energy of a shooting star to that of a moving car.What is the kinetic energy of a 1080-kg car moving at 28.8 m/s (64.4 mi/h)? (MJ)

Answer 1

Given data:

* The mass of the car is m = 1080 kg.

* The speed of the car is v = 28.8 m/s.

Solution:

The kinetic energy of the car is,

$K=\frac{1}{2}mv^2$

Substituting the known values,

$\begin{gathered} K=\frac{1}{2}\times1080\times(28.8)^2 \\ K=447897.6\text{ J} \\ K=\text{0}.45\times10^6\text{ J} \\ K=0\text{.45 MJ} \end{gathered}$

Thus, the kinetic energy of the car is 0.45 MJ.