Question

How much potential energy due to gravity would a person have if they were standing on top of a building that is 36.2 m high? Assume that they have a mass of 79.2 kg.

Answer 1

Given:

The mass of thee person is

`m=79.2\text{ kg}`

The height at which person standing is

`h=36.2\text{ m}`

Required: calculate the potential energy of the person

Step-by-step explanation:

when anybody of mass m is at a distance h from the earth's surface then it has potential energy that is given as

`P.E=mgh`

where g is the acceleration due to gravity whose value is

`9.8\text{ m/s}^2`

Plugging all the values in the above relation, we get;

`\begin{gathered} P.E=79.2\text{ kg}*9.8\text{ m/s}^2*36.2\text{ m} \\ P.E=28096.992\text{ J} \end{gathered}`

Thus, the potential energy is

`28096.992`