I stretch a rubber-band and fling it at across the room. When does the rubber band have energy?

Question

Question 5 options:

Only when it was stretched tight.

There is no energy used.

Both when its stretched tight and when its flying across the room.

Only when its flying across the room.

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

Both when it's stretched tight and when it's flying across the room.

When you stretch a rubber band, you store elastic potential energy in it. This energy is released when the rubber band is released and converted into kinetic energy as it flies across the room. Therefore, it has energy in both states.