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A pilot begins to land an aircraft - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 4 - 2013 - Paper 1
Question 4
A pilot begins to land an aircraft. (a) The height of the aircraft decreases from 200 m above the ground to 100 m. (i) What happens to the gravitational potential ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A pilot begins to land an aircraft - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 4 - 2013 - Paper 1
Step 1
What happens to the gravitational potential energy of the aircraft?
Answer
As the height of the aircraft decreases, the gravitational potential energy decreases. The gravitational potential energy (GPE) is calculated using the formula:
where:
- is the mass of the aircraft,
- is the acceleration due to gravity, and
- is the height above ground.
Since the height decreases from 200 m to 100 m, the GPE must decrease, leading us to select option B: it decreases.
Step 2
What happens to the kinetic energy of the aircraft?
Answer
The kinetic energy (KE) of an object is given by the formula:
where:
- is the mass of the object,
- is the velocity of the object.
In this case, since the velocity of the aircraft remains constant, the kinetic energy does not change. Therefore, we choose option C: it does not change.