id: 4223
uid: MdyjN
insdate: 2026-06-27 02:05:13
title: Why does kinetic energy increase quadratically, not linearly, with speed? (2011)
additional:

Kinetic Energy's Quadratic Boost 🚀

Kinetic energy increases quadratically with speed because it's directly proportional to the square of the velocity, reflecting the growing energy required to accelerate an object as it moves faster. This relationship stems from the definition of kinetic energy as half the product of an object's mass and the square of its velocity. As speed increases, the energy grows rapidly, making it much harder to achieve further acceleration.
category: Hacker News
md5:
guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48692946
source_url: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/535/why-does-kinetic-energy-increase-quadratically-not-linearly-with-speed
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