Question

A 10-kilogram object falls from a height of 100 meters. Ignoring the effects of
air friction, when the object is 25 meters above the ground, how much of its
original gravitational potential energy will it have?​

Answer 1

Answer:

1/4

Explanation:

The gravitational potential energy of an object is given by

$U=mgh$ (1)

where

m is the mass of the object

g is the acceleration of gravity

h is the height relative to the ground

The object in this problem is initially at

h = 100 m

Later, it is found at a position of

h' = 25 m

which is 1/4 of the original position:

$h'=\frac{1}{4}h$

We also see from eq.(1) that the potential energy is proportional to h: therefore, if the new potential energy will be

$U' = mgh' = mg(\frac{1}{4}h)=\frac{1}{4}U$

So, 1/4 of the original value.