Ideally, how much energy could be obtained from a 0.500 kg golf ball?

Answer 1

Answer: It depends

The types of energy that would be significant to a golf ball are kinetic and potential energy.

1. potential energy: PE = mgh
2. kinetic energy: KE = (1/2)mv²

Combining this, the total energy (E) of the golf ball combines kinetic and potential energy

E = PE + KE

E = mgh + (1/2)mv²

If m = 0.5kg, g = 9.91 m/s^2 on earth, then h and v are still unknown variables. This means the total energy is still dependent on the unknown values of the golf balls height and velocity, so the total energy is ambiguous until these values are known