Question

A giraffe standing on top of a tall building has 470.4 kJ of gravitational potential energy. The mass of the giraffe is 800 kg, and the gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg. Calculate the height of the building.

Answer 1

The height of the building is 60 meters.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the height of the building, we can use the formula for gravitational potential energy:

PE = mgh

Where PE is the gravitational potential energy, m is the mass of the giraffe, g is the gravitational field strength, and h is the height of the building.

First, we need to convert the gravitational potential energy from kJ to J:

PE = 470.4 kJ x 1000 J/1 kJ = 470,400 J

Now we can plug in the values:

470,400 J = 800 kg x 9.8 N/kg x h

Simplifying the equation:

h = 470,400 J / (800 kg x 9.8 N/kg) = 60 m

Therefore, the height of the building is 60 meters.

Answer 2

The height of the building is calculated using the gravitational potential energy formula GPE = mgh, yielding a building height of 60 meters.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the height of a building based on the gravitational potential energy (GPE) of a giraffe, we use the equation GPE = mgh, where m is the mass of the giraffe, g is the gravitational field strength, and h is the height of the building. Here, the GPE is given as 470.4 kJ (470,400 J), the mass m is 800 kg, and g is 9.8 N/kg. To find the height h, we rearrange the formula to h = GPE / (mg) and substitute the known values to calculate the height.

Substituting the values, we get:
h = 470,400 J / (800 kg × 9.8 N/kg) = 470,400 J / 7,840 N = 60 meters.

Therefore, the building is 60 meters tall.