Question

A shopper in a supermarket takes a box of sugar from a shelf that is 1.5 m high because he is going to bake some muffins. If the box has a mass of 1.5 kg, what Potential Energy did the sugar have before it was taken from the shelf?

Answer 1

Potential energy of the object of mass $m$ at height $h$ above the ground is $E = m g h$.

Hence, potential energy of the sugar on a shelf is $E = 1.5 kg \cdot 9.81 \cdot \frac{m}{s^2} \cdot 1.5 m \approx 22.1 J$.