The potential energy of an object with a mass of 5kg that is placed 20 meters above the surface of the earth is most nearly ____.

The potential energy of an object is equal to Ep = mgh, where m is the mass, g is the gravitational acceleration constant, and h is the height. The gravitational acceleration is 9.81 m/s2. As a result, we can calculate the potential energy to be: Ep = 5kg * 9.81 m/s2 *20m = 981 Joules.