Kinetic Energy
Table of Contents
$$ E_k = \frac{1}{2}mv^2 $$
Where
- \(E_k\) is the kinetic energy of the object,
- \(m\) is the mass of the object, and
- \(v\) is the velocity of the object.
Sources #
Example #
Kevin throws a 400,000 kg spaceship straight down off of an infinitely tall cliff. After some time, it reaches a terminal velocity of 500 m/s. What is the kinetic energy of the spaceship at this point?
We know that kinetic energy is equal to \(\small \frac{1}{2}mv^2\), so we can plug in the values to get the answer:
$$ \scriptsize E_k = \frac{1}{2}mv^2 \Longrightarrow E_k = \frac{1}{2} \cdot 400000 \cdot 500^2 \Longrightarrow E_k = 5.0 \cdot 10^{10} J $$