Calculating energy

Question

A 45.45 kg diver leaps high into the air to begin her dive. At the top of her leap they have a total mechanical energy of 7.50x10⁴ and are moving at 9.23 m/s. Calculate the gravitational potential of the diver.

Answer 1

Because you have the total mechanical energy and enough to calculate the kinetic energy, you can subtract the kinetic energy from the total mechanical energy to get the gravitational energy.

This assumes that the total mechanical energy is being measured in joules because it is not denoted in the problem.

KE=1/2mv^2

KE=.5*45.45kg*9.23m/s^2

KE=1936.00J

PE=TME-KE

PE=75000J-1936J

PE=73064J

PE=7.31*10^4J