A large truck and a small two door car are both traveling 60 miles per hour down the highway, which has more kinetic energy?

Question

Hint: think about the formula for KE

Question 18 options:

they have no kinetic energy

the truck

they have the same amount

the car

Answer 1

Kinetic energy (KE) is calculated using the formula:

\[ KE = \frac{1}{2}mv^2 \]

where \( m \) is the mass of the object and \( v \) is its velocity.

Since both the large truck and the small two-door car are traveling at the same speed (60 miles per hour), the kinetic energy will depend on their masses.

Generally, a large truck has a significantly greater mass compared to a small car. Therefore, even though they are moving at the same speed, the truck will have much more kinetic energy because kinetic energy is directly proportional to the mass when speed is constant.

So, the answer is:

the truck