. 9. A student drops a ball from three different heights, as shown. For each drop, she calculates what the kinetic energy of the ball would be when it hits the ground. The table shows her data.

Question

The student says that a ball dropped from a height of 3.0 meters would have less than 96 joules of kinetic energy when it hits the ground. Is she correct and why?
Type Answer HERE:

A. She is correct because the higher the ball is dropped from, the less kinetic energy it will have when it hits the ground.

B. She is correct because the higher the ball is dropped from, the greater kinetic energy it will have when it hits the ground.

C. She is incorrect because the higher the ball is dropped from, the greater kinetic energy it will have when it hits the ground.

D. She is incorrect because the higher the ball is dropped from, the less kinetic energy it will have when it hits the ground.

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

C. She is incorrect because the higher the ball is dropped from, the greater kinetic energy it will have when it hits the ground.

When an object is dropped from a height, it converts potential energy at the height into kinetic energy as it falls. The greater the height, the more potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, resulting in a higher kinetic energy when it hits the ground. Thus, a ball dropped from 3.0 meters would have more kinetic energy than one dropped from a lower height, and it would indeed have an amount greater than 96 joules when falling from that height, assuming the ball's mass is sufficient to yield that amount based on the formula for gravitational potential energy (PE = mgh).