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apart from height above ground, what other quantity affects how much gravitational potential energy an object on earth has stored?

The other key quantity is the mass of the object.

Quick Scoop: Gravitational Potential Energy Explained

Direct answer

Gravitational potential energy near Earth’s surface is given by the formula
Ep=mghE_p=mghEp​=mgh.

So, apart from the height hhh above the ground, the amount of gravitational potential energy also depends on:

  • The mass mmm of the object (more mass → more energy).
  • The strength of gravity ggg at that place (slightly different on other planets or even slightly across Earth).

In most school questions about “on Earth,” ggg is taken as fixed, so the expected answer is: mass of the object.

Mini breakdown

1. Why mass matters

Think of lifting a brick versus a feather to the same shelf.
You do more work lifting the heavier brick, so it stores more gravitational potential energy at the same height.

  • Double the mass → double the gravitational potential energy (if height stays the same).
  • Half the mass → half the gravitational potential energy.

That’s why the formula multiplies mass and height together: both contribute equally.

2. Gravity strength also plays a role

The symbol ggg in Ep=mghE_p=mghEp​=mgh is the acceleration due to gravity.

  • On Earth, we usually approximate g≈9.8 m/s2g\approx 9.8\text{ m/s}^2g≈9.8 m/s2.
  • On the Moon, ggg is weaker, so the same mass at the same height has less gravitational potential energy.

But when a question says “on Earth” and doesn’t ask you to think about different locations, teachers often treat ggg as constant and focus on mass and height.

3. Quick example

Imagine two balls on the same shelf:

  • Ball A: 1 kg
  • Ball B: 3 kg

Same height hhh, same planet (so same ggg).
Ball B has three times the gravitational potential energy of Ball A, purely because its mass is three times bigger.

SEO-style meta description

Apart from height above ground, the gravitational potential energy of an object on Earth depends mainly on its mass , and more generally also on the local value of gravitational field strength ggg.

TL;DR:
For an object on Earth, besides height, the mass of the object affects how much gravitational potential energy it has (with gravity strength ggg in the background as a constant for most basic problems).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.