Question 4: Is kinetic energy a vector quantity?
ANSWER
No, Kinetic energy is not a vector quantity. Like any other form of energies, Kinetic Energy is also a scalar quantity. If ‘m’ is the mass of a body and ‘v’ is the speed with which it is moving (magnitude of velocity), its kinetic energy is given by,
![kinetic energy equation](https://mashalscienceacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/kinetic-energy-equation.png)
Here v2 is calculated as the dot product of the velocity vector with itself. Therefore, from mathematics point of view, it is the product of two scalar quantities, m and v2, and must be a scalar.
Physically, it has only magnitude and no direction. An interesting angle to see the problem through is, it is the work done on a body which appears as K.E. As work is a scalar quantity, so is K.E.
Therefore, the quantitative nature of K.E is scalar.
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