Answer to Question #158257 in Physics for Emily Kith

Question

If I have an object suspended in the air by my hand, and I then drop it into a bowl of flour (causing an i elastic collision) What are the energies (kinetic, potential etc) at these points?

1) When it’s suspended in the air

2) as it’s falling from it’s initial height

3) when it lands in the flour.

at what specific points are both forms of energy present?

Answer 1

1) When it’s suspended in the air, the object has gravitational potential energy

2) As it’s falling from its initial height, the object starts gaining kinetic energy. The kinetic energy grows to its maximum as the speed increases, while potential energy decreases to zero.

3) When it lands in the flour, the kinetic energy the object had turns into heat and energy required to deform the shape of flour.

Both kinetic and potential energies are present when the object is falling.