Question

What is true about the energy of the skydiver? Choose the best answer.

a picture of a skydiver.

She has the energy of falling.
She has kinetic energy because she is falling through the sky.
The amount of kinetic and potential energy she possesses is changing as she falls to earth but the total mechanical energy remains the same.
She has potential energy because she is above the earth.

Answer 1

Best answer: "She has potential energy because she is above the earth."

Explanation: Being above Earth gives her gravitational potential energy. While she is falling she also has kinetic energy (so the statement "she has kinetic energy because she is falling" is also true), and as she falls potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. However, because a skydiver moves through air, some mechanical energy is lost to air resistance (heat), so the total mechanical energy does not remain strictly constant.