A brick of mass is to be placed on shelves at different heights in a school laboratory.
PHYSICS · Multi-part · AP · Physics C: Mechanics · Work Energy and Power · Work Energy and Power
Problem
A brick of mass 3kg is to be placed on shelves at different heights in a school laboratory.
(i) Define gravitational potential energy and state its SI unit.
(ii) The brick is gently kept on a shelf 2m above the ground. Calculate its potential energy with respect to the ground. Take g=9.8ms−2.
(iii) The brick is then moved to a second shelf that is 0.5m higher than the first one. Determine the increase in its potential energy due to this shift.
(iv) If the first shelf is chosen as the reference level (zero level), explain qualitatively how the numerical value of the brick’s potential energy on the second shelf will change, while the difference obtained in part (iii) remains the same.