Complete the statement. Assume that the scoop of ice cream's mass did not change.
The gravitational potential energy stored between the scoop of ice cream and Earth () as the ice cream dropped toward the ground.
stayed the same increased decreased
Read the text about an object in motion.
Jason was holding an ice cream cone with two scoops of mint chip ice cream. When he licked the ice cream, a scoop fell off and dropped to the ground.
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 scoop of ice cream and the center of Earth changed.
The ground was lower than the ice cream cone. As the scoop of ice cream fell toward the ground, the distance between the scoop and the center of Earth decreased. So, the gravitational potential energy stored between the scoop of ice cream and Earth decreased as the ice cream dropped toward the ground.