Practice question · Select all that apply
A ball is dropped from a height in the absence of air resistance. Select every statement that is TRUE during the fall.
Hints
- Conservation of energy means the total is fixed while the split between forms shifts.
- One option contradicts conservation outright.
Show the answer
- B. Its kinetic energy grows in proportion to the square of its speed
- C. Nothing is gained or lost overall: the two forms simply trade
- D. Its potential energy decreases
- E. Its kinetic energy increases
Why
Height is traded for speed, so potential energy falls while kinetic energy rises by exactly the same amount and the total is unchanged. Nothing is created: the energy was already there, stored by the work done in lifting the ball.
Practise Work, Energy, and Power
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