True or false? The gravitational potential energy of an object 5m above the ground in Ontario is the same as an indentical object 5m above the ground on the Moon.

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To tackle this true/false statement, consider what gravitational potential energy depends on. GPE relative to a reference level is given by mgh, where m is mass, g is the local acceleration due to gravity, and h is height above the reference level.
Option: True. This would claim that the GPE is the same for an object 5 m above ground on Earth (Ontario) and the Moon. However, the key factor that would differ between these two scenarios is g. The Moon’s surface gravity is about 1.6 m/s^2, while Earth’s (Ontario) gravity is about 9.8 m/s^2. Since g appears multiplicatively in mgh, differing g values mean the GPEs will differ even if the height and mass are identical.
Option: False. This aligns with the understanding that GPE depends on the local gravitational field. Although the height above the ground is the same (5 m) and the mass is the same, the Moon’s weaker gravity reduces GPE compared to Earth. Therefore, the gravitational potential energy is not the same in the two locations.
Additional nuance: If you kept height and mass fixed but compared GPE at the same altitude on bodies with different gravities, you must adjust g accordingly. The only way for GPE to be identical across locations would be to have the same g, which is not the case here, since Earth and Moon have different gravitational accelerations.
In summary, the statement claiming equality would be incorrect because the local g differs between Ontario (Earth) and the Moon, causing different mgh values for the same mass and height.

SPH4U - Physics 12 (2025-26) - A

True or false? The gravitational potential energy of an object 5m above the ground in Ontario is the same as an indentical object 5m above the ground on the Moon.

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