An apple fell from a plane during takeoff from a height of 200 m. Find the speed of an apple when it falls to the ground?

An apple fell from a plane during takeoff from a height of 200 m. Find the speed of an apple when it falls to the ground? What energy transformations took place with the apple?

Given:

H = 200 meters – the height from which the apple fell to the ground;

g = 10 m / s ^ 2 – acceleration of gravity.

It is required to determine the speed of the apple when hitting the ground v (m / s).

Let the apple have mass m. Then, at a height of 200 meters, it will have potential energy E potential and zero kinetic energy. At the moment of impact on the ground, potential energy will completely transform into kinetic energy Ekinetic, that is, according to the law of conservation of energy:

Epotential = Ekinetic;

m * g * H = m * v ^ 2/2;

g * H = v ^ 2/2;

v ^ 2 = 2 * g * H;

v = (2 * g * H) ^ 0.5 = (2 * 10 * 200) ^ 0.5 = (4000) ^ 0.5 = 63.2 m / s.

Answer: the speed of the apple will be 63.2 m / s.