Question

A freely falling object eventually stops on reaching the ground. What happens to its kinetic energy?

Answer 1

When an object falls freely towards the ground, its potential energy decreases and kinetic energy increases. As the object touches the ground, all its potential energy gets converted into kinetic energy. As the object hits the hard ground, all its kinetic energy gets converted into heat energy and sound energy. It can also deform the ground depending upon the nature of the ground and the amount of kinetic energy possessed by the object.