Complete the statement. Assume that the hockey puck's mass did not change.
The gravitational potential energy stored between the hockey puck and Earth () as the puck slid toward the goal.
increased stayed the same decreased
Read the text about an object in motion.
Quincy and Roger were playing air hockey on a level table. When Quincy hit the hockey puck, it slid quickly toward Roger's goal.
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 hockey puck and the center of Earth changed.
Because the table was level, each point on the table was the same distance from the center of Earth. As the hockey puck slid toward the goal, the distance between the puck and the center of Earth stayed the same. So, the gravitational potential energy stored between the hockey puck and Earth stayed the same as the puck slid toward the goal.