Question

A shopper in a supermarket takes a box of sugar from a shelf that is 1.5 m high because he is going to bake some muffins. He also needs to get some blueberries. The sugar has a weight of 5N. What Potential Energy did the sugar have before it was taken from the shelf?Potential Energy = Weight x HeightWeight = Potential Energy / HeightHeight = Potential Energy / WeightWeight = Mass x 10Mass = Weight / 10

Answer 1

In order to calculate the potential energy of an object, we can use the formula below:

`PE=m\cdot g\cdot h`

Where PE is the potential energy (in Joules), m is the mass (in kg), g is the gravity acceleration (in m/s²) and h is the height (in meters).

Since mass times gravity is equal to the weight force, we can also write the formula as follows:

`W=m\cdot g`

Where W is the weight force (in Newtons).

So the formula will be:

`PE=W\cdot h`

Potential Energy = Weight x Height

Since the height is equal to 1.5 meters and the weight force is equal to 5 N, we have:

`\begin{gathered} PE=5\cdot1.5 \\ PE=7.5\text{ J} \end{gathered}`

The potential energy is 7.5 Joules.