A meteorite is a solid composed of stone and/or metal material from outer space that
passes through the atmosphere and hits the earth’s surface. Find the kinetic energy of
a meteorite with mass 250 kg that hits the earth at 25 km/s.
Given:
m=250kg
v=2.5E4m/s <<< converted km/s to m/s
So the problem should be set up like this?
0.5*250*(2.5E4)^2=
Yes, that's correct! The formula for calculating kinetic energy is given by:
Kinetic Energy = 0.5 * mass * velocity^2
In this case, the mass of the meteorite is 250 kg and the velocity is 25 km/s, which needs to be converted to meters per second (m/s). We can convert 25 km/s to m/s by multiplying it by 1000, since there are 1000 meters in 1 kilometer:
25 km/s * 1000 m/km = 25000 m/s
Now we can substitute the values into the formula:
Kinetic Energy = 0.5 * 250 kg * (25000 m/s)^2
Simplifying:
Kinetic Energy = 0.5 * 250 kg * (625000000 m^2/s^2)
Calculating the result:
Kinetic Energy ≈ 78,125,000,000 Joules
So, the kinetic energy of the meteorite is approximately 78,125,000,000 Joules.
Yes, exactly! The formula for kinetic energy is given by:
Kinetic Energy = 0.5 * mass * velocity squared
Substituting the given values:
Kinetic Energy = 0.5 * 250 * (2.5E4)^2
The next step would be to calculate the expression.