David eats a basket of chocolates and cake that contains #20,000# calories of energy, then regrets it and thinks about how far up a mountain he will need to climb to work off this energy. Can you give him an answer?

1 Answer
Jan 20, 2018

#20,000# calories (not kilocalories) is #83,700# #J#

#E_p=mgh#, so #h=E_p/(mg)=83,700/(50xx9.8)=170# #m#

That's a little more than a staircase, a little less than a mountain.

I suspect the question meant kilocalories though, since 20,000 of those is more realistic for a basket of chocolate and cake. They are sometimes written as 'Calories' with a capital C.

If it meant kilocalories we need to multiply this answer by 1000, which would make it #170# #km#, which is much taller than any mountain on earth.