A ball is held at the top of a table. The person holding the ball drops it, and the ball is allowed to fall toward Earth. Answer the following questions about the ball.
a. When the ball is held at the top of the table (before being dropped), what type of energy does the ball have?
(1 point)
Responses
motion energy
motion energy
kinetic energy
kinetic energy
electrical energy
electrical energy
potential energy
potential energy
When the ball is held at the top of the table, it has potential energy.
The correct answer is potential energy.
To understand why the ball has potential energy, we need to know that potential energy is the energy possessed by an object due to its position or condition. In this case, when the ball is held at the top of the table, it is above the surface of the Earth and has the potential to fall downwards due to the force of gravity. The higher the ball is held, the greater its potential energy because it has a greater capacity to do work when released. Therefore, before being dropped, the ball has potential energy.