Mark is conducting an experiment to show how an object’s kinetic energy is affected by its mass and velocity. First, he lets an empty wagon roll down a hill and calculates its kinetic energy. Next, he repeats the experiment after placing a bag of sand in the wagon. Which is the best prediction for the second part of his experiment?

Question

Mark is conducting an experiment to show how an object’s kinetic energy is affected by its mass and velocity. First, he lets an empty wagon roll down a hill and calculates its kinetic energy. Next, he repeats the experiment after placing a bag of sand in the wagon. Which is the best prediction for the second part of his experiment?
Responses

The wagon will have the same amount of kinetic energy as when it was empty.

The wagon will have less kinetic energy than when it was empty.

The wagon will have less velocity than when it was empty.

The wagon will have more kinetic energy than when it was empty.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The best prediction for the second part of Mark's experiment is:

The wagon will have more kinetic energy than when it was empty.

This is because kinetic energy is given by the formula \( KE = \frac{1}{2} mv^2 \), where \( m \) is the mass and \( v \) is the velocity of the object. By adding a bag of sand, the mass of the wagon increases, which will lead to an increase in kinetic energy assuming the velocity doesn't decrease significantly.