When a glass bowl is dropped from 10 cm height near the ground level, (1) there is less chance of breakage as compared to when it is dropped from 1 m height. What is the reason behind this?
Answers
Answer:
Due to the difference in potential energies of the bowl falling from different heights.
Explanation:
Potential energy is the energy of an object at a particular height from the ground level. Its equation is given by,
P = mgh
Where 'm' is the mass of the object, 'h' is its height from ground level and 'g' is the acceleration due to gravity. It is clear from the equation that the mass of the bowl and the value of 'g' is constant. Now the only thing that determines the potential energy is the height of the object. So objects at higher heights will have higher potential energy.
This potential energy is completely converted into kinetic energy as the bowl reaches the ground. So the bowl with higher potential energy will collide with the ground with higher kinetic energy. So it will break easily.