How Much Energy Was Released in the Fuel Tank Explosion?

[StephenDoty]

A fuel tank explodes, ripping the
container into two pieces of masses 20kg and
and 15kg sending them 6.6m and 7.30000019m high,
respectively. What was the energy released by the
explosion if all energy becomes the KE of the
fragments?

Shouldn't the sum of the PE of both fragments equal the energy released?

PE=mgh=(20kg)*(9.81m/s/s)*(6.6m)
+
PE=mgh=(15kg)*(9.81m/s/s)*(7.30000019m)


Thank you
Stephen

 

[Doc Al]

Shouldn't the sum of the PE of both fragments equal the energy released?

If they go straight up, yes. (So you can assume that at their highest point they have only potential energy, but no kinetic energy.)

 

[Moetasim]

I would like to clarify that the energy released by the explosion is not equal to the sum of the potential energy of both fragments. The energy released in an explosion is a combination of different forms of energy, including thermal energy, sound energy, and kinetic energy. In this scenario, the energy released by the explosion would be the sum of the kinetic energy of both fragments, which can be calculated using the formula KE=1/2mv^2, where m is the mass and v is the velocity of each fragment. Therefore, in order to accurately determine the energy released by the explosion, we would need to know the velocities of both fragments after the explosion.