Complete the statement. Assume that the whale's mass did not change.
The gravitational potential energy stored between the whale and Earth () as the whale swam toward the surface.
increased stayed the same decreased
Read the text about an animal in motion.
A whale was swimming deep in the ocean. After a few minutes, the whale swam to the surface of the water to breathe.
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 whale and the center of Earth changed.
The surface of the water is higher than the point where the whale was swimming deep in the ocean. As the whale swam toward the surface, the distance between the whale and the center of Earth increased. So, the gravitational potential energy stored between the whale and Earth increased as the whale swam toward the surface.