Your roommate drops your wallet down to you from the third-floor window of your apartment, which is 11.5 m from the ground. what is the velocity of the wallet when you catch it? (assume you catch the wallet right before it hits the ground)

15 m/s

Explanation:

Using the law of conservation of energy, potential energy equals kinetic energy hence

Therefore

where g is the acceleration due to gravity, m is the mass of the object, h is the height and v is the speed of the wallet

Taking g as 9.81 then

gpe = mass x gravity constant x height or… gpe = mgh

where… mass: measured in kilograms (kg)

gravity: gravity constant on earth = 10.00 m/s2

height: measured in meters (m)

gpe: measured in joules (j) or kilojoules (kj)

how do you solve gpe?

gravitational potential energy (gpe) is the energy an object has because of its position above the. ground.

gpe = mass x gravity constant x height or… gpe = mgh.

mass:

note: to earn full marks when solving science word problems, you must show your work:

formula.

example:

given values:

mass = 0.3 kg.