PHYSICS 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Conservative Force, Potential Energy, Problem Solving
Document Summary
Conservation of energy- energy is neither created nor destroyed. Work and energy have the same units, measured in joules (newton-meters): Work transfers energy in the form of heat or sound. Need a reference level at which the potential energy is equal to 0. Converting between potential energy and kinetic energy. Conservative force- a force for which work done by or against it depends only on the starting and ending points of a motion and not the path taken, can define a potential energy for any conservative force. Potential energy is the energy a system has due to position, shape, or configuration, stored energy that is completely recoverable. Potential energy of a spring: , where k is the spring"s force constant and x is the displacement from its undeformed position. Mechanical energy- total kinetic plus potential energy of a system. If the conservative force does work, the system loses energy (), so: or.
