Question

A student is conducting an investigation to determine how mass and speed affect the kinetic energy of an object. She records the data shown below.

When a toy car weighing 250 grams is traveling at a speed of 2 m/s, its kinetic energy is 0.5 Joules.
When the velocity of the toy car is doubled, its kinetic energy is 2 Joules.
When a 250 gram weight is attached to the top of the toy car, its kinetic energy is 1 Joule when it is traveling at a speed of 2 m/s.
The student wants to use the data she collected to create a graph showing how kinetic energy changes as mass and speed changes.

Which of the following graphs BEST represents this relationship?

Answer 1

@justjm

Answer 2

You don't really need the description, just know that K=mv^2 / 2
Thus m and K are directly proportional (linear)
And v and K are directly proportional but quadratic.

You can match that with the graphs.

Answer 3

okay

Answer 4

so A because as the velocity increases the kinetic energy increases?

Answer 5

True but not quite...it does not show a quadratic relationship between velocity and K

Answer 6

so if not a. I'm going to go with c

Answer 7

C is incorrect.

Answer 8

Do you know the magnitude of parabolic and linear functions and their look?

Answer 9

what does that mean?

Answer 10

Remember the formula for K is mv^2 /2 . Velocity has a quadratic relationship with K, and mass has a linear relationship with K. Which graph depicts that?