A ball of clay falls freely to a concrete floor. The ball does not bounce noticeably, and it quickly comes to rest. What has happened to the mechanical energy the ball had during its fall?

The mechanical energy is converted to potential energy while the kinetic energy is zero

Explanation:

mechanical energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy. It is the energy associated with the motion and position of an object. The total mechanical energy is the sum of these two forms of energy.

The Law of Conservation of Energy: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but is merely changed from one form into another. This means that potential energy can become kinetic energy, or vice versa, but energy cannot "disappear".

The mechanical energy is converted to potential energy while the kinetic energy is zero