Question

Compare the kinetic energy of a 20,000-kg truck moving at 110 km/h with that of an 80.0-kg astronaut in orbit moving at 27,500 km/h.

a) The truck has more kinetic energy.
b) The astronaut has more kinetic energy.
c) Both have the same kinetic energy.
d) Insufficient information to compare.

Answer 1

The astronaut has more kinetic energy than the truck.

Step-by-step explanation:

To compare the kinetic energy of the truck and the astronaut, we can use the formula for kinetic energy: KE = 0.5 * mass * velocity^2.

First, let's calculate the kinetic energy of the truck:

Mass of the truck = 20,000 kg
Velocity of the truck = 110 km/h = 30.56 m/s

KE of the truck = 0.5 * 20,000 * (30.56)^2 = 9,400,678.4 J

Now, let's calculate the kinetic energy of the astronaut:

Mass of the astronaut = 80.0 kg
Velocity of the astronaut = 27,500 km/h = 7,638.9 m/s

KE of the astronaut = 0.5 * 80.0 * (7,638.9)^2 = 2,338,793,600 J

Comparing the two kinetic energies, we can see that the astronaut has more kinetic energy than the truck.