Question

at the end of a ride up a steep hill Ken was at an elevation of 1600 meters above where he started. he figured out that he and his bicycle had stored 1,000,000 joules of energy. if ken has a mass of 54 kg, what is the mass of kens bicycle

Answer 1

h = height gained during the ride = 1600 meters

U = potential energy gained = 1000000 Joules

M = mass of ken = 54 kg

m = mass of bicycle = ?

g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.8 m/s²

Gravitational potential energy gained is given as

U = (M + m) g h

inserting the values in the above formula

1,000,000 J = (54 + m) (kg) (9.8 m/s²) (1600 m)

1,000,000 J = (54 + m) (15680 m²/s²)

m = 9.8 kg

mass of kens bicycle = 9.8 kg