Find the energy in joules required to lift a 55.0 megagram object a distance of 500 cm.

Energy to lift something =

               (mass of the object) x (gravity) x (height of the lift).

BUT ...

This simple formula only works if you use the right units.

Mass . . . kilograms
Gravity . . . meters/second²
Height . . . meters

For this question . . .

Mass = 55 megagram = 5.5 x 10⁷ grams = 5.5 x 10⁴ kilograms

Gravity (on Earth) = 9.8 m/second²

Height = 500 cm  =  5.0 meters

So we have ...

Energy = (5.5 x 10⁴ kilogram) x (9.8 m/s²) x (5 m)

            =  2,696,925 joules .

That's quite a large amount of energy ... equivalent to
straining at the rate of 1 horsepower for almost exactly an
hour, or burning a 100 watt light bulb for about 7-1/2 hours.

The reason is the large mass that's being lifted.
On Earth, that much mass weighs about 61 tons.