Multiple Choice Question The picture shows Gerald's toy truck, which he can fill with weights, and the track it will travel on. Gerald puts a weight in the truck and releases it from the starting position, at a height of 0.30 meters. He does this again for each of the weights, releasing the truck from the same position each time. He makes the chart below to keep track of each test. Which of the following graphs BEST shows the relationship between the potential energy (in joules) of the truck at its starting position and the total mass (in kilograms) of the weighted truck? A. B. C. D.

Question

Multiple Choice Question The picture shows Gerald's toy truck, which he can fill with weights, and the track it will travel on. Gerald puts a weight in the truck and releases it from the starting position, at a height of 0.30 meters. He does this again for each of the weights, releasing the truck from the same position each time. He makes the chart below to keep track of each test. Which of the following graphs BEST shows the relationship between the potential energy (in joules) of the truck at its starting position and the total mass (in kilograms) of the weighted truck? A. B. C. D.

Answer 1

The potential energy of an object is given by the equation PE = mgh, where m is the mass of the object, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and h is the height of the object.

In this case, the potential energy of the truck is directly proportional to the total mass of the weighted truck. This means that as the total mass of the truck increases, the potential energy also increases.

Therefore, the graph that best represents this relationship is graph B, where the potential energy is directly proportional to the total mass.