Question

If an airplane with a mass of 5 tons has gravitational potential energy of 1000 kilojoules, what is its height?

Answer 1

The gravitational potential energy of an object, measured with respect to the ground, is given by

`U=mgh`
where m is the object's mass, g is the gravitational acceleration and h is the height of the object measured from the ground.

In our problem, the mass of the plane is m= 5 tons = 5000 kg, while the potential energy is

`U=1000 kJ=1 \cdot 10^6 J`
so we can re-arrange the previous formula and use these data to calculate h, the height of the airplane:

`h= (U)/(mg)= (1 \cdot 10^6 J)/((5000 kg)(9.81 m/s^2)) =20.39 m`