Answer: b. four times as much.
Explanation: The potential energy (PE) of an object is given by the formula \( PE = mgh \), where \( m \) is the mass, \( g \) is the acceleration due to gravity, and \( h \) is the height above the ground.
For the first object with mass \( m \), the potential energy is \( PE_1 = mgh \).
For the second object with four times the mass, the potential energy is \( PE_2 = (4m)gh = 4mgh \).
Thus, the potential energy of the second object is four times as much as that of the first object.