Question

In example 10.7, it’s not strictly correct to refer to the “racer’s gravitational potential energy” because the gravitational potential energy is of the system consisting of the racer plus the earth, not the racer alone.

True

False

Answer 1

Here, the answer is true, yes there will be an only gravitational potential energy of the system consisting racer and earth.

Here the racer is driving a car on an earth surface so a general formula for Gravitational Potential Energy is

GPE= -GM/r

Where G =universal gravitational constant, M= mass of racer and r= distance of the object from earth's center

From this formula, it is seen that GPE is depended upon a couple of things

GPE is dependent upon the mass of racer

GPE is depended upon earth center distance

Hence, It is completely wrong to say GPE of racer alone.