The characteristic that will be affected by increasing the speed of an object from 30 meters per second (m/s) to 40 meters per second (m/s) is kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy (KE) is given by the formula:
\[ KE = \frac{1}{2} mv^2 \]
where \( m \) is the mass of the object and \( v \) is its velocity. As the speed (velocity) of the object increases, the kinetic energy increases, specifically with the square of the velocity. Therefore, increasing the speed will directly affect the kinetic energy of the object.