The discussion revolves around the kinetic energy of an object in free fall and its relationship with gravitational potential energy. Participants explore the conservation of energy principle and the dependence of kinetic energy on the height from which the object is dropped.
Participants express disagreement regarding the dependence of kinetic energy on height, with some asserting it does depend on height while others argue it does not in the context of the kinetic energy formula.
There are unresolved questions regarding the cancellation of height in the equations presented, and the discussion does not clarify the assumptions behind the claims made by participants.
How does the h cancel out?Shyan said:It does! Its equal to mgh which is a function of h!
It doesn't. ## E_k=\frac 1 2 m v^2 ## is the definition of kinetic energy of a particle with mass m and speed v regardless of what forces are applied to it. Any particle with mass m and speed v, has the kinetic energy ## E_k ##. Now if this particle acquired its kinetic energy by falling from a height h under constant gravitational acceleration g, then the numerical value of ## mgh ## and ## \frac 1 2 m v^2 ## will be equal which means the speed of the particle is ## v=\sqrt{2gh} ##.bay said:How does the h cancel out?