Question: How does kinetic energy works

Caroline Roche answered on 11 Feb 2025:

Kinetic energy is the energy that an object has due to its motion.
It is based on the mass of the object and it’s speed (Kinetic Energy = 1/2 * mass * speed squared).
Imagine throwing a ball, as you go to throw the ball the energy from your arm moves the ball so that it is traveling at speed. Combine that speed with the balls mass and you get the kinetic energy.
If you play sports, like football, you probably have a rough idea of how ‘hard’ it will be to stop a ball based on it’s speed. That ‘hardness’ will be the kinetic energy the ball still has – when you stop it or slow it down, you are removing that kinetic energy from the ball.