Is potential energy a form of energy that is stored in a object before it moves?

Question

Is potential energy a form of energy that is stored in a object before it moves?

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Answer 1

Potential energy is how far from equilibrium something is. When you stretch a rubber band, you’re adding potential energy. If you let go, it can turn that potential energy back into kinetic energy as it returns to rest.

The same is true for boulders on hills, big molecules that have been built up and could fall back apart to release energy, etc.

You know the idea that someday the universe will die a ‘heat death’ and everything will be perfectly evenly distributed? Potential energy is in everything that hasn’t yet collapsed to that state.