Question
At what height is an object that has a mass of 50kg, if its gravitational potential energy is 9800j?
Final Answer
When we use the formula for gravitational potential energy (which is PE = mgh), and make h subject of the formula (h = PE/mg). We will end up having our height (h=9800/(50×10) = 9800/500 = 19.6 m) equals 19.6 meters. Thus, the height of the object is 19.6 meters.
Explanation
Data: The valuable information from the question
Mass of the object, m = 50 kg
Gravitational potential energy of the object, PE = 9800J
We need to also remember that acceleration due to gravity, g = 10 m/s2
Unknown: What we need to find
Height of the object, h = ?
Formula: The equation that will help us solve the problem
Remember that gravitational potential energy formula, PE = mgh
By making h in the above equation as subject of the formula, we will now have:
h = PE/mg. [This is the formula that will help us to solve the problem]
Solution
We will now substitute the formula with our data to obtain: h = PE/mg = 9800 / (50 X 10) = 9800 / 500
Thus, h = 9800/500 = 19.6 m
Therefore, we can see that the final answer is 19.6 meters, which can be approximated into 20 meters. Hence, we can equally say that the height of the object is approximately 20 meters.
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