Gravitational potential energy Definition and 292 Threads

Are potential energy and gravitational potential energy same..?? Are potential energy and gravitational potential energy same..??:confused: Please help me...!

Homework Statement A bead of mass m slides without friction on a smooth rod along the x-axis. The rod is equidistant between two spheres of mass M. The spheres are located at x=0 , y= \pm a. a. Find the potential energy of the bead. b. The bead is released at x = 3a with an initial...

Homework Statement A rocket is fired straight up from the surface of the Earth at half the escape velocity. How high will it go relative to the surface of the earth? Neglect dissipative forces. Homework Equations Uinitial + Kinitial = Uf Kf is zero G*m*M/radius^2 + 1/2mv^2 =...

Homework Statement A 32.2 N child is in a swing that is attached to ropes 1.65 m long. Calculate the gravitational potential energy of the child-Earth system relative to the child's lowest position when the ropes are horizontal Homework Equations GPI=mgy Ke= 1/2 m v^2 The Attempt at a...

I read that General Relativity reduces to Newtonian when v<<c as well as when Newtonian gravitational potential energies are small compared to mc^2. What is the GR version of gravitational potential energy?

I am confused about this question: A giant star has a radius of 200 Rsun, with core of mass 0.6 Msun surrounded by an extended envelope of mass 0.2 Msun. (a) Estimate the gravitational potential energy of the envelope. When it says the envelope, does this mean the 'shell' surrounding...

Homework Statement A 50.0 kg carton is dragged up a low-friction plank onto the back of the truck. The length of the plank is 3.00 m and it makes an angle of 15.0º with the ground. With respect to the bottom of the plank, the gravitational potential energy of the carton on the truck is...

Hello, I haven't learned a lot of physics and math, but I don't know how I misunderstand the following concepts: Why is the gravitational potential energy of a system of two bodies described in one term instead of two? If each body in a two-body system effects a gravitational force on the...

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/flobi.html" Since the gravitational potential energy of the falling object at the point of impact is higher than the gravitational potential energy at the distance traveled after impact, where does the energy go? It is shown that the KE is removed...

Homework Statement The distance between the sixth and the eleventh floors of a building is 30.0m. The combined mass of the elevator and its contents is 1350 kg. a) find the gravitational potential energy of the elevator when it stops at the eighth floor, relative to the sixth floor...

I recently looked at wikipedia for gravitational potential energy For two masses; M and m, and distance; r between their centres, gravitational energy; Ep is: Ep=GMMr-1 With this, the further away the masses, the smaller the potential energy the system has But this does not make...

Homework Statement A fully loaded Cessna-182 airplane of mass 1250 kg has an engine failure when flying with an airspeed of 126 km/h at an altitude of 2540 m on a calm day. It then glides at a constant glide angle (which is the direction of flight below the horizontal) towards a safe landing...

A projectile is shot directly away from Earth's surface. Neglect the rotation of Earth. (a) As a multiple of Earth's radius RE, what is the radial distance a projectile reaches if its initial speed is one-third of the escape speed from Earth? (b) As a multiple of Earth's radius RE, what is...

Homework Statement a 46.0kg child cycles up a large hill to a point that is vertical distance of 5.25m above the starting position find: a.) The change in the childs gravitational potential energy b.) The amount of work done by the child against gravity Homework Equations delta Eg=mg...

Homework Statement Four particles, each of mass 60.0 g, form a square with an edge length of d = 0.700 m. If d is reduced to 0.100 m, what is the change in the gravitational potential energy of the four-particle system?Homework Equations U = -GMm/rThe Attempt at a Solution I found the U of the...

Hi there. I have a bead of mass m, which slides down a frictionless parabolic wire in the form y=x^2, and is attached by elastic to the point (0,h), and I want to write down total energy f(x) (= elastic energy + gravitational potential energy) (no mention of kinetic energy...) of the bead at...

Homework Statement A 2.40 kg snowball is fired from a cliff 10.4 m high. The snowball's initial velocity is 19.3 m/s, directed 42.0° above the horizontal. (a) How much work is done on the snowball by the gravitational force during its flight to the flat ground below the cliff? (b) What is the...

I have a technical question regarding the definition of gravitational potential energy: How correct is it to discuss/define the gravitational potential energy of object A without regard for the other bodies that are exerting a gravitational force on object A? I find this kind of thing in...

Homework Statement A 140-N child is in a swing that is attached to ropes 2.00 m long. Find the gravitational potential energy associated with the child relative to her lowest position at the following times. (a) when the ropes are horizontal I get this one. I used PE=mgy...

Can someone help me.. A satellite of mass 100kg revolves round the Earth in a circular orbit of radius 2R where R is the radius of the Earth. Determine the energy needed to move the satellite to a new orbit of radius 3R. Thanks alot.

This has troubled me ever since we went over gravity in science. I didnt ask the teacher becuase i thought the answer might be obvious and I might look like an idiot in front of the class lol. But anyway, I was wondering where the energy comes from that an object has when it is in a...

Homework Statement An asteriod hits the Moon and ejects a large rock from its surface. The rock has enough speed to travel to a point between the Earth and the moon where the gravitational forces on it from the Earth and the moon are equal and opposite in direction. At that point the rock...

Homework Statement I read this statement: "The gravitational potential energy of a particle at a point with respect to another particle (kept at rest) is equal to the work done by the force which brings them from infinite separation at that point, without gain in kinetic energy." Then I tried...

Homework Statement Hey guys, just wondering if you guys could help me out a bit. A boy on a sled with a total mass of 72kg slides from rest down a hill, which is 35m high. The friction force between sled and snow has a magnitude of 250N. If the slope of the hill makes an angle of 37 degrees...

Homework Statement Two Earth satellites, A and B, each of mass each of 980kg, are launched into circular orbits around the Earth's center. Satellite A orbits at an altitude of 4500kg, and satellite B orbits at an altitude of 13600km. What are the potential energies of the two satellites...

The classical paradigm of how an object acquires gravitational potential energy goes like this: First, we take the case where the object is near the surface of the Earth which we define as the zero reference point. The object has a mass of 1 kg. We lift the object by an agent, such as a hand...

Hi. I am a little confused about this: If I throw a stone straight upwards from the surface of the Earth, with the escape speed of 11,2 km/s, assuming that no air or other particles gets in the way, and waited for a very, very long time, the velocity of my stone (and the Earth in the...

Hi. Imagine a closed physical system (a universe) with only one star like our Sun, and one planet like our Earth, but so far away from each other, that the gravity from both matters only has a very small effect on each other. There is a (almost maximum) gravitational potential energy...

Gravitational potential energy usually arises due to the force of attraction experienced by a body. When a small body is placed between to massive bodies (not of equal masses) it is attracted by both. So when we consider the small body’s gravitational potential energy should we take the sum of...

Homework Statement when doing work on something how does work relate to the gravitational potential energy that it acquires? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution

Homework Statement A meter stick with a mass of .160kg is pivoted about one end so it can rotate without friction about a horizontal axis. The meter stick is held in a horizontal position and released. As it swings through the vertical, calculate (a) the change in gravitational potential...

The problem states that: "Bruce stands on a bank beside a pond, grasps the end of a 10.0m long rope attached to a nearby tree and swings out to drop into the water. If the rope starts at an angle of 35 degrees with the vertical, what is Bruce's speed at the bottom of the swing? Variables...

E=mgh how to find the gravitational potential energy if the mass is not given only height is given E.G A man decides to cimb an office tower. If the floors are 3.8 m apart, how much gravitational potential energy would the man have relative to the ground floor if he made it to 5th floor??

Classically if you lift up a body, say a brick, you are doing work against the gravitational force, this work is then 'stored' as Gravitational Potential Energy and released when the body is dropped. Energy is conserved so GPE (and other forms of PE) + KE = Constant. In GR the problem is...

Homework Statement A 78.9-kg skier rides a 3150-m-long lift to the top of a mountain. The lift makes an angle of 11.9 ° with the horizontal. What is the change in the skier's gravitational potential energy? Homework Equations W=mgcos\theta(ho-hf) The Attempt at a Solution...

[SOLVED] Gravitational potential energy edit: solved

The gravitational potential energy W of a self-gravitating sphere of mass M and radius R depends on the detailed distribution of mass within the sphere, but it is generally of order of magnitude -GM^2/R. For the Sun, W_sun = -2G(M_sun)^2/R. What is the timescale t = -(1/2)(W_sun)/(L_sun) over...

ok I am in high school and have a physics challenge, its a device that transports a mass of 305 grams (Tomato soup can), a distance of 4 meters. no chemical, elastic, spring, electrical or magnetic energy can be used - the only energy source for propelling the device will come from the...

ok I am in high school and have a physics challenge, its a device that transports a mass of 305 grams (Tomato soup can), a distance of 4 meters. no chemical, elastic, spring, electrical or magnetic energy can be used - the only energy source for propelling the device will come from the...

Homework Statement A 7.26 kg ball hangs from end of 2.5 m rope. The ball is pulled back until rope makes 45 degree angle with vertical. What is the gravitation potential energy? Homework Equations ug=mgh The Attempt at a Solution I thought I would just multiply mass times gravity...

if we think the height of a matter reaches over the radius of the Earth how will the potential energy of it change? when height of it approaches infinite from zero how will be the graph of gravitational potential energy-height? thank you

[SOLVED] Gravitational Potential Energy Problem Homework Statement Suppose that the moon were at rest at its present distance from the earth, rather than orbiting it. With what speed would it strike the earth? (Take the Earth to be infinitely massive relative to the moon) Homework...

A 65 kg diver is standing on a diving platform 10.0 m above the water. What is the gravitational potential energy of the diver with respect to the water’s surface? I know this one,,, Ep = mgh e= 65*10* 9.8 = 6370 Joules or 6.37 kilojoules If the diver in question 6 falls from the...

Gravitational potential energy. Please help! Homework Statement A projectile is launched from Earth's surface at a speed of 10 km/s. Find the maximum height it reaches. Homework Equations change in U = -change in K U = -GM/r The Attempt at a Solution GMm/r = 1/2mv^2...

Hey guys, I am involved in a competition where my objective is to build a Joule Car: Can anyone please give me ideas of how I can use gravitational potential energy to build it? Here are the actual directions: http://www.mrmaloney.com/nssl/events/2007-2008/0708_3-dec-joule-car.pdf Your help...

The answer is c, but I can't figure out what is the reason, can somebody kindly explain it? http://tinyurl.com/32322t

[SOLVED] Gravitational Potential Energy Homework Statement Calculate the change in potential energy of a 77.2-kg man when he takes an elevator from the first floor to 24th floor, if the distance between floors is 4.05 m. Homework Equations Ug = mgy The Attempt at a Solution Ug =...

hi, please help me figure these problems out. much appreciated. 1. an object of mass .7kg is thrown vertically upwards at a speed of 29 m/s. What is the gravitational potential energy of the obect at the highest point of its trajectory? 2. an object of mass 8.9kg moves with initial speed...

Homework Statement A baseball is thrown from the roof of a 22.0-m-tall building with an inital velocty of magnitude 12.0 m/s and directed at an angle of 53.1 degrees above the horizontal. a) What is the speed o fthe ball just before it strikes the ground? Use energy conservation and ignore...

Homework Statement Ok, I am deriving the change in gravitational potential energy at the surface of the Earth and have met with some difficulties. Homework Equations g=GM/r^2 P.E.=-GMm/r The Attempt at a Solution \delta P.E. = -GMm/r_f+GMm/r_i Where r_f > r_i Since...