Complete the statement. Assume that the athlete's mass did not change.
The gravitational potential energy stored between the athlete and Earth () as she sped up around the track.
increased stayed the same decreased
Read the text about a person in motion.
An athlete competed in a 5,000-meter wheelchair race. As she began her last lap around the flat track, she pushed hard and sped past another racer.
Gravitational potential energy is stored between any two objects. So, for every object on or near Earth, there is gravitational potential energy stored between the object and Earth.
The amount of gravitational potential energy stored between an object and Earth depends on the mass of the object. The amount of gravitational potential energy also depends on the distance between the object and the center of Earth. This distance increases when the object moves higher and decreases when the object moves lower.
If the distance between an object and the center of Earth changes, the gravitational potential energy stored between the object and Earth will change. The table below shows how this change can happen.
When an object's mass stays the same and its distance from the center of Earth... | Gravitational potential energy stored between the object and Earth...
increases | increases
decreases | decreases
stays the same | stays the same
Think about how the distance between the athlete and the center of Earth changed.
Because the track was flat, each point on the track was the same distance from the center of Earth. As she sped up around the track, the distance between the athlete and the center of Earth stayed the same. So, the gravitational potential energy stored between the athlete and Earth stayed the same as she sped up around the track.