A person is painting his house walls. He stands on a ladder with a bucket containing paint in one hand and a brush in other. Suddenly the bucket slips from his hand and falls down on the floor. If the bucket with the paint had a mass of 6.0 kg and was at a height of 2.0 m at the time it slipped, how much gravitational potential energy is lost together with the paint?

Mass of the bucket containing paint, m = 6.0 kg

Initial height of the bucket from ground, hI = 2.0 m


Final height of the bucket after falling, hF = 0.0 m


Acceleration due to gravity, g = 9.8 m/s2


Change in potential energy of the bucket = mg(hF-hI)


= 6.0 × 9.8 × (0.0-2.0)


= -117.6 J


Loss in gravitational potential energy = 117.6 J ≈118 J


1