If i run down some stairs and stop, what happens to your kinetic energy and your initial gravitational potential energy?

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If i run down some stairs and stop, what happens to your kinetic energy and your initial gravitational potential energy?

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Answer 1 · 2014-06-26T23:21:46

First, look at the two types of energy you're asking about:

Kinetic Energy depends on the mass and speed of the object
$K E = \frac{1}{2} m v^{2}$ $KE=1/2mv^2$ while Gravitational Potential Energy depends on the mass and position of the object $U_{g}$ $U_g$ $= m g h$ $= mgh$ .

So in your example, by coming to a stop your kinetic energy becomes zero. Because your height decreased, your potential energy also decreases (whether it equals 0 or not depends on where you define 0 $U_{g}$ $U_g$ to be.)

All of the energy you "lost" has been converted into internal energy, sound energy and heat.

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If i run down some stairs and stop, what happens to your kinetic energy and your initial gravitational potential energy?

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