Why would an airplane flying at 10,000 meters above the ground have more gravitational potential energy than the same airplane flying at 1,000 meters above the ground?

Explanation: A flying airplane has potential energy has it flies above the ground level. And since the airplane is flying motion is associated with it and thus possesses kinetic energy.

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nikitarahangdaleVT nikitarahangdaleVT · Answer 2 · 2022-08-05T08:01:34+02:00

The plane at 10,000 m will have more gravitational potential energy because it is directly proportional to height.

What is gravitational potential energy?

The energy stored by an object as a result of its position is called potential energy.

When an object is at a height, it is able to store gravitational potential energy. This energy is because of the attractive force of gravity acting on the object as a result of its height.

Gravitational potential energy is mainly dependent on two factors. These are - the mass of the object held at a height and the height at which it is held i.e the vertical distance between the object and the earth.

Gravitational potential energy is equal to

P E = m × g × h

Where m is the mass of the object

g is the acceleration due to gravity

h is the height

Therefore, gravitational potential energy is directly proportional to the mass of the object and the height at which it is held.

Since in the above case, we are talking about the same airplane so mass will be common. But at a height of 10,000m gravitational potential energy will be considerably higher compared to at a height of 1000 m.