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Work,Energy,andPowerLesson1BasicTerminologyandConcepts

PotentialEnergy
DefinitionandMathematicsofWork
CalculatingtheAmountofWorkDonebyForces
PotentialEnergy
KineticEnergy
MechanicalEnergy
Power

Anobjectcanstoreenergyastheresultofitsposition.Forexample,theheavyballofademolition
machineisstoringenergywhenitisheldatanelevatedposition.Thisstoredenergyofpositionis
referredtoaspotentialenergy.Similarly,adrawnbowisabletostoreenergyastheresultofits
position.Whenassumingits usualposition
(i.e.,whennotdrawn),thereisnoenergystoredinthebow.
Yetwhenitspositionisalteredfromitsusualequilibriumposition,thebowisabletostoreenergyby
virtueofitsposition.Thisstoredenergyofpositionisreferredtoaspotentialenergy.Potential
energyisthestoredenergyofpositionpossessedbyanobject.

GravitationalPotentialEnergy
Thetwoexamplesaboveillustratethetwoformsofpotentialenergytobediscussedinthiscourse
gravitationalpotentialenergyandelasticpotential
energy.Gravitationalpotentialenergyistheenergystoredinan
objectastheresultofitsverticalpositionorheight.Theenergyis
storedastheresultofthegravitationalattractionoftheEarthforthe
object.Thegravitationalpotentialenergyofthemassiveballofa
demolitionmachineisdependentontwovariablesthemassoftheballandtheheighttowhichitis
raised.Thereisadirectrelationbetweengravitationalpotentialenergyandthemassofanobject.More
massiveobjectshavegreatergravitationalpotentialenergy.Thereisalsoadirectrelationbetween
gravitationalpotentialenergyandtheheightofanobject.Thehigherthatanobjectiselevated,the
greaterthegravitationalpotentialenergy.Theserelationshipsareexpressedbythefollowingequation:
PEgrav=massgheight

PEgrav=m*gh
Intheaboveequation,mrepresentsthemassoftheobject,hrepresentstheheightoftheobject
andgrepresentsthegravitationalfieldstrength(9.8N/kgonEarth)sometimesreferredtoasthe
accelerationofgravity.
Todeterminethegravitationalpotentialenergyofanobject,a zeroheightposition
mustfirstbe
arbitrarilyassigned.Typically,thegroundisconsideredtobeapositionofzeroheight.Butthisismerely
anarbitrarilyassignedpositionthatmostpeopleagreeupon.Sincemanyofourlabsaredoneon
tabletops,itisoftencustomarytoassignthetabletoptobethezeroheightposition.Againthisismerely
arbitrary.Ifthetabletopisthezeroposition,thenthepotentialenergyofanobjectisbaseduponits
heightrelativetothetabletop.Forexample,apendulumbobswingingtoandfromabovethetabletop
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hasapotentialenergythatcanbemeasuredbasedonitsheightabovethetabletop.Bymeasuringthe
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massofthebobandtheheightofthebobabovethetabletop,the
potentialenergyofthebobcanbedetermined.
Sincethegravitationalpotentialenergyofanobjectisdirectly
proportionaltoitsheightabovethezeroposition,a doubling
ofthe
heightwillresultina doubling
ofthegravitationalpotentialenergy.
A tripling
oftheheightwillresultina tripling
ofthegravitational
potentialenergy.

Usethisprincipletodeterminetheblanksinthefollowingdiagram.Knowingthatthepotential
energyatthetopofthetallplatformis50J,whatisthepotentialenergyattheotherpositions
shownonthestairstepsandtheincline?

SeeAnswer

ElasticPotentialEnergy
Thesecondformofpotentialenergythatwewilldiscussiselastic
potentialenergy.Elasticpotentialenergyistheenergystored
inelasticmaterialsastheresultoftheirstretchingorcompressing.
Elasticpotentialenergycanbestoredinrubberbands,bungee
chords,trampolines,springs,anarrowdrawnintoabow,etc.The
amountofelasticpotentialenergystoredinsuchadeviceis
relatedtotheamountofstretchofthedevicethemorestretch,
themorestoredenergy.
Springsareaspecialinstanceofadevicethatcanstoreelasticpotentialenergyduetoeither
compressionorstretching.Aforceisrequiredtocompressaspringthemorecompressionthereis,the
moreforcethatisrequiredtocompressitfurther.Forcertainsprings,theamountofforceisdirectly
proportionaltotheamountofstretchorcompression(x)theconstantofproportionalityisknownasthe
springconstant(k).
Fspring=kx
SuchspringsaresaidtofollowHooke'sLaw.Ifaspringisnotstretchedorcompressed,thenthereisno
elasticpotentialenergystoredinit.Thespringissaidtobeatits equilibriumposition
.Theequilibrium
positionisthepositionthatthespringnaturallyassumeswhenthereisnoforceappliedtoit.Intermsof
potentialenergy,theequilibriumpositioncouldbecalledthezeropotentialenergyposition.Thereisa
specialequationforspringsthatrelatestheamountofelasticpotentialenergytotheamountofstretch
(orcompression)andthespringconstant.Theequationis

PEspring=0.5kx2
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wherek=springconstant
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x=amountofcompression
(relativetoequilibriumposition)

Tosummarize,potentialenergyistheenergythatisstoredinanobjectduetoitspositionrelativeto
somezeroposition.Anobjectpossessesgravitationalpotentialenergyifitispositionedataheight
above(orbelow)thezeroheight.Anobjectpossesseselasticpotentialenergyifitisatapositiononan
elasticmediumotherthantheequilibriumposition.

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