Halp! (Chemistry)

[Talus]

This is a bonus assignment for my chemistry (and the extra credit wouldn't hurt), it's three parts and the first is easy enough but I'm stuck at B & C.

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Tom is a 4.32 kg short-haired cat. Assume that Tom has just had 1/2 cup of his favorite cat food, with a "food calorie" value of "200 cal":

A) What is the heat value in joules (J) of this little snack?

This was the easy part - 200 "food calories" = 200 kcal
200 kcal = 200,000 cal
1 cal = 4.184 J
200,000 x 4.184 J = 836,800 J
No problem.

B) If all of that heat energy could be converted to kinetic energy, what would be the instantaneous velocity of this 3.20 kg cat (assume every bit of "food energy" instantly becomes kinetic energy)

[Edit: Figured out B. v = square root of (2 * 836,800)/3.2 kg = 723.2 m/s]

C) Assume further that Tom the Cat could convert all of that energy, instantly, into gravitational potential energy (E = mgh). Which of the following tall buildings can he leap at a single bound (or, how high, in meters, could he raise himself to, and thus clear some or all of the listed structures)

Empire State Building, NYC 1,250 feet
Sears Tower, Chicago, IL 1,454 feet
CN Tower, Toronto, Canada 1,840 feet
Burj Dubai, Dubai, UAE 2,260 feet

For C, I set up the equation as the E = mgh, with 836,800J = (4.32 kg)(9.8m/s)(h) but I'm getting a bad answer it seems that is way off.

I realize my professor screwed with the cat's mass in the intro and part B, but he said to use either.

[Innuendo]

Second year of a chemistry degree here (this is really more physics, but meh.)
I got the same answers for A and B as you, and presumably for part C:
E = mgh
(units) J = kg * m/s^2 * ?
kg m^2 s^-2 = kg * m * s^-2
units of h = m

energy in joules = 836800
mass in kg = 4.32
g in m/s^2= 9.81
height in m = ?

836800 = 4.32 * 9.81 * ?
h = 836800/(4.32*9.81)
= 836800/42.38
=19745.5 m
h = 19746 m

1 m = 3.28 ft
19746 * 3.28 = 64,765 ft

I dunno, maybe the answer's "all of them." Let's hope either we're both missing something or your professor's trying to trick you with the last bit.

[Talus]

Thank you for your help, I eventually figured it out. The reason it was bonus is because even though it's gen chem I, the class average for the 2nd exam was around 62 (I got an 83). He has a slight curve built in on the grading, where 88-100 is an A, 76-88 is a B, etc. It is more physics-related I suppose, but he tends to base all of his extra credit assignments--3 so far, including this one--on his cat. The first one was "For 10 points, what is my cat's name?"

Thanks again for the help.

[Jube]

For some reason with my learning disability, numbers and science were always my strong point. I learned this stuff when going through the Ohms law section for car stereo speaker design. Was learning how to create systems from scratch (crazy stuff in most application of car stereos) so we could do R&D for companies I believe was the idea. Sadly ended up working in a custom shop for 4 years doing everything from tuning engines to redoing whole interiors of cars. To 3 years working in Best Buy's car audio install bay.

But these types of problems like I said earlier are easy for me since i can follow numbers easier. My color theory professor gave me a 1 question test a long time ago where i couldn't even begin to answer the question. What does the color Pink look like. First my disability makes it hard to communicate what I am trying to say. Along with the fact my sentence structure and grammar is terrible. Also I am color blind to the color pink.

All said in done, get your ass back I miss you even tho I barely log on myself now a days Tal