Question

A stone dropped from the top of a 80m high building strikes the ground at 40 m/s after falling for 4 seconds. The stone's potential energy with respect to the ground is equal to its kinetic energy … (use g = 10 m/s 2)

A) at the moment of impact.
B) 2 seconds after the stone is released.
C) after the stone has fallen 40 m.
D) when the stone is moving at 20 m/s.

At the moment of impact both Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy should be 0, right? So it can't be A), right? Or is this wrong? Is it indeed A)? Please show work and explain it well.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

The answer is C because the building is 80 meters high. Before the stone is dropped, it has ONLY potential energy since kinetic energy involves velocity and a still stone has no velocity. At impact, there is no potential energy because potential energy involves the height of the stone relative to the ground and a stone ON the ground has no height; here there is ONLY kinetic.

From the First Law of Thermodynamics, we know that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form. Therefore, that means that at the halfway point of 40 meters, half of the stone's potential energy has been lost, and it has been lost to kinetic energy. Here, at 40 meters, there is an equality between PE and KE. It only last for however long the stone is AT 40 meters, which is probably a millisecond of time, but that's where they are equal.