# Kinetic Energy Calculator

Created by Dominik Czernia, PhD
Last updated: Jun 28, 2022

Use the kinetic energy calculator (KE calculator) to quickly find this physical quantity using the mass and velocity of an object. We use a standard formula for kinetic energy defined for all units you might want to use.

Read on to learn how to find kinetic energy, what the equation for kinetic energy is, and how to solve for kinetic energy. If you have already computed everything you needed, you can visit to see how mechanical advantage helps to use kinetic energy effectively.

## How to find kinetic energy

You can find kinetic energy using the definition of work. It says how much energy an object has while moving. The faster the speed, the higher the kinetic energy.

Similarly, from the kinetic energy formula, we can see that heavy objects possess higher energy. It means, for example, that it is more difficult to stop a heavy car than a light football, even if they're moving at the same speed.

If you need more information about work and its relevance to energy, visit the work calculator at our site. In the next section, we will focus on this kinetic energy calculator instead.

## How to use the kinetic energy calculator

Using the KE calculator shouldn't cause any problems. In case you need some help, we prepared a short instruction below:

1. Enter the mass of an object. You can change units of all parameters in the KE calculator. Our weight converter can assist you whenever you need to express variables in various units.

2. Input the velocity of the object. Again, you have a few available units to choose from.

3. We'll use the kinetic energy equation to estimate the final result for you in no time. KE formula that we implemented here should have all the necessary energy units you might need.

4. That's how to solve for kinetic energy. If you'd like to do the same for velocity or mass, enter kinetic energy first and then one of the other parameters.

## What is the formula for kinetic energy?

So, you now know how to calculate kinetic energy with our kinetic energy calculator. Still, it may be good to learn what the formula for kinetic energy is at all! The appropriate equation looks like the below expression:

$E_k = \frac{1}{2}mv^2$

,where:

• $E_k$ - The kinetic energy;
• $m$ - The mass of an object; and
• $v^2$ - The velocity of the object.

Let's see how to calculate kinetic energy in a simple example. Let's say you're driving a car that weighs 4400 lb (about 1995.8 kg) with a speed of 40 mph (approximately 64.38 km/h or 17.88 m/s). What is its kinetic energy?

First of all, to use the KE formula, you need to convert both variables to the basic SI units, i.e., kilograms and meters per second. We already did it in the brackets above. Then use the kinetic energy formula:

$\footnotesize E_k = \frac{1}{2}\times 1995.8 \times 17.88 = 319,081 J$

The result is 319,081 in joules. You can convert it to more convenient units, for example, kilojoules which are 319.1 kJ. If you prefer feet and pounds, then the result is 235,342 ft-lbs.

The kinetic energy equation wasn't that hard to solve, right? We have a similar tool called the potential energy calculator, which describes another type of energy. Be sure to check it!

Dominik Czernia, PhD
Mass
kg
Velocity
m/s
Kinetic energy
J
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