Chapter 7
Potential Energy and
Energy Conservation
Lecture 2 Sec. 7.1-7.5
PowerPoint® Lectures for
General Physics I and Engineering I
– Physics Department, UAEU
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Learning Goals
• To introduce the concept of elastic potential energy.
• Distinguish between conservative and nonconservative
forces.
• Solve problems in which both kinds of forces act.
• Determine properties of a conservative force from its
potential-energy function.
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Work done by a spring
Stretching or compressing a spring
by x, it receives a work that
could be converted into kinetic
energy for an attached body.
The work done by a spring to a
body attached to it:
Elastic potential energy:
1 2
𝑈 𝑒𝑙= 𝑘 𝑥
2
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Elastic potential energy
1 2
• Elastic potential energy is the 𝑈 𝑒𝑙= 𝑘𝑥
2
energy stored in an elastic
body, such as a spring.
• The Figure at the right shows a
graph of the elastic potential
energy for an ideal spring.
• The work done by a spring to a
body attached to it:
𝑊 𝑒𝑙=− ∆ 𝑈 𝑒𝑙
The elastic force is conservative.
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Total mechanical energy
If the elastic force is the only force doing work, the
total mechanical energy is conserved.
𝑂 𝑟 ∆ 𝐸=0
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Situations with both gravitational and elasti c forces
• Suppose gravitational force, elastic force and other forces
are exerted on a moving body:
or
• When a situation involves
both gravitational and elastic
forces, the total potential
energy is U = Ugrav + Uel.
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Conservative and nonconservative forces
• A conservative force allows conversion between kinetic and
potential energy. Examples: Gravity and the spring forces.
• The work done between two points by any conservative force
a) can be expressed in terms of a potential
energy function,
b) is reversible.
c) is independent of the path between the
two points.
d) is zero if the starting and ending points
are the same.
• A force (such as friction) that is not
conservative is called a nonconservative
force, or a dissipative force.
• A force (such as friction) that is not conservative is called a
nonconservative force, or a dissipative force.
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𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲
• Nonconservative forces do not store potential energy, but
they do change the internal energy of a system.
• The law of the conservation of energy means that energy is
never created or destroyed; it only changes form.
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𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
• In one dimension, a conservative force can be obtained from its
potential energy function using
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Class Activities
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E xample 7.7
A glider with mass sits on a frictionless horizontal air track, connected to a
spring with force constant k = 5.00 N/m. You pull on the glider, stretching
the spring 0.100 m, and release it from rest. The glider moves back toward
its equilibrium position (x=0). What is its x-velocity when x = 0.080 m?
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E xample 7.8
Suppose the glider is initially at rest at x=0, with the spring unstretched.
You then push on the glider with a constant force (magnitude 0.610 N) in
the +x-direction. What is the glider’s velocity when it has moved to x =
0.100 m?
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E xample 7.9
A 2000-kg elevator in a test is
falling from height H= 1m. The
elevator stopped by compressing a
spring 20cm before it stops. What
is the necessary force constant k
for the spring?
1+0.2=1.2 m
0.2 m
1.2
0.22
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k=1176000 N/m
E xample 7.10
You are rearranging your furniture and wish to move a 40.0-
kg futon 2.50 m across the room. A heavy coffee table, which
you don’t want to move, blocks this straight-line path.
Instead, you slide the futon along a dogleg path; the doglegs
are 2.00 m and 1.50 m long. The coefficient of kinetic friction
is μk = 0.200
How much more work must you
do to push the futon along the
dogleg path than along the
straight-line path?
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-Cont.
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Example 7.12
A boy skateboards from rest down a curved ramp with friction. If we treat the
boy and his skateboard as a particle having a total mass of 25.0 kg. He
moves through a quarter-circle with radius R = 3.00 m. The boy’s speed
at the bottom is 6.00 m/s
(a) What work was done on him by the friction force?
(b) What is the change of the system’s internal energy?
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Example
A force parallel to the x-axis acts on a particle
moving along the x-axis. This force produces a
potential energygiven by. What is the force when
the particle is at position ?
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Test Your Understanding
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Q1
A block is released from rest on a frictionless
incline as shown. When the moving block is in
contact with the spring and compressing it, what
is happening to the gravitational potential energy
Ugrav and the elastic potential energy Uel?
A. Ugrav and Uel are both increasing.
B. Ugrav and Uel are both decreasing.
C. Ugrav is increasing; Uel is decreasing.
D. Ugrav is decreasing; Uel is increasing.
E. The answer depends on how the block’s speed is changing.
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Q2
The graph shows the potential
energy U for a particle that
moves along the x-axis.
The particle is initially at x = d
and moves in the negative x-
direction. At which of the labeled
x-coordinates is the particle
slowing down?
A. at x = a B. at x = b C. at x = c D. at x = d
E. more than one of the above
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Q3
The graph shows the potential
energy U for a particle that
moves along the x-axis. At which
of the labeled x-coordinates is
there zero force on the particle?
A. at x = a and x = c
B. at x = b only
C. at x = d only
D. at x = b and d
E. there is a force at all values of x
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𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲
Elastic potential energy is .
When gravitational and elastic forces act together, the total
potential energy is U = Ugrav + Uel
Nonconservative forces change the internal energy of the
system
General law of conservation of energy:
K + U + Uint = 0.
• conservative force can be obtained from its potential energy
function using Fx = –U/dx and Fy = –U/dy
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