Is kinetic energy relative?

Yes, kinetic energy is a relative quantity. As you might guess, this means that when you're using energy conservation, you have to stay within a single frame of reference; all that energy conservation tells you is that the amount of energy as measured in any one frame stays the same over time. read more

Yes, kinetic energy is a relative quantity. As you might guess, this means that when you're using energy conservation, you have to stay within a single frame of reference; all that energy conservation tells you is that the amount of energy as measured in any one frame stays the same over time. read more

Kinetic energy is relative. Just as velocity is. In a frame of reference that is moving at the same speed as an object the kinetic energy is zero. Now to see how it works, firstly you need to consider a"collision" from two points of view. read more

Yes, kinetic energy is relative as it depends on the relative velocity between objects. In the energy equation [math]E=mc^2[/math] the mass [math]m[/math] is the rest mass of the object thus no matter what the relative velocity is, the rest mass [math]m[/math] is unchanged. read more