Unit 8

So there's this fairy, about 0.1 kg and he's going about doing his business, flying around looking for some sweet flower nectar. While he's flying, he's going at about 3 m/s, so what would his kinetic energy be? Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, so to solve this, we would use the equation, 1/2 x mass x (velocity)^2 to get a number of Joules. So we would get a kinetic energy of, 0.45 joules from 1/2(0.1 kg)(3)^2.

Now let's say this fairy dude finally finds some sweet nectar in a flower about 1 m above the ground. In order to obtain this nectar, he has to stop for a little while and hang out (at rest). So what would his potential energy be at this point? So to find potential (or gravitational) energy, we would use the equation, PE= mass x acceleration of gravity x change in height. So this fairy's potential energy at this point would be 0.98 joules from (0.1 kg)(9.8)(1)