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Disregarding loss or gain however, the sum of the kinetic and potential energy remains constant. Kinetic energy can be passed from one object to another. In the game of billiards, the player imposes kinetic energy on the cue ball by striking it with the cue stick. If the cue ball collides with another ball, it slows down dramatically, and the ...
The negative sign provides the convention that work done against a force field increases potential energy, while work done by the force field decreases potential energy. Common notations for potential energy are PE, U, V, and E p. Potential energy is the energy by virtue of an object's position relative to other objects. [6]
In physical sciences, mechanical energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy. The principle of conservation of mechanical energy states that if an isolated system is subject only to conservative forces , then the mechanical energy is constant.
This requires that the sum of kinetic energy, potential energy and internal energy remains constant. [ 2 ] : § 3.5 Thus an increase in the speed of the fluid—implying an increase in its kinetic energy—occurs with a simultaneous decrease in (the sum of) its potential energy (including the static pressure) and internal energy.
The gravitational potential energy is the potential energy an object has because it is within a gravitational field. The magnitude of the force between a point mass, M {\displaystyle M} , and another point mass, m {\displaystyle m} , is given by Newton's law of gravitation : [ 3 ] F = G M m r 2 {\displaystyle F={\frac {GMm}{r^{2}}}}
In mechanics, the virial theorem provides a general equation that relates the average over time of the total kinetic energy of a stable system of discrete particles, bound by a conservative force (where the work done is independent of path) with that of the total potential energy of the system.
The internal energy is the sum of thermal kinetic energy and thermal potential energy. [12] Thus, even if the internal energy does not change, the temperature can change due to conversion between kinetic and potential energy; this is what happens in a free expansion and typically produces a decrease in temperature as the fluid expands.
A potential well is the region surrounding a local minimum of potential energy. Energy captured in a potential well is unable to convert to another type of energy (kinetic energy in the case of a gravitational potential well) because it is captured in the local minimum of a potential well. Therefore, a body may not proceed to the global minimum ...