same student climbs the staircase – Discussion Forum

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Ayushree

Asked: September 12, 2026In: Class 9 Science

A student is slowly lifted straight up in an elevator from the ground level to the top floor of a building. Later, the same student climbs the staircase, all the way to the top. Given that the height of the building is h = 72.5 m, acceleration due to gravity is g = 10 m s-2 and student’s mass is m = 50 kg. (i) Find the gain in the potential energy if the student is lifted straight up to the top. (ii) Find the gain in the potential energy when the student climbs the stairs to the same top. (iii) What do you conclude about the dependence of the potential energy on the path taken?

The gain in potential energy is 36250 joules in both cases, calculated by multiplying mass, gravity and height. Gravitational potential energy depends only on vertical height and is completely independent of the path taken.