Kinetic energy

Kinetic energy is energy that a body has as a result of its speed.

Simple calculation

The kinetic energy of a body = egin{matrix} rac{1}{2} end{matrix} mv^2

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where m is the mass and v is the velocity of the body.

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Note that the kinetic energy increases with the square of the velocity. This means for example that if you are travelling twice as fast, you need to lose four times as much energy to stop. The braking distance of a car at 100km/hr is therefore four times as far as the braking distance at 50km/hr.

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