I understand the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. But I don’t understand how work and potential energy relate. Is it similar? Can someone explain it clearly like I’m 5? Thanks.
In: Physics
Potential energy is the capacity to do work, in a sense.
If I have a spring and I load it back so that it has 40J in stored energy, and I put a 5 kg block in front of it, I could make the block have 40J of *kinetic* energy (assuming zero friction) and travel at 4m/s.
Another way to think about energy is with entropy and order. If energy can be released from organized systems becoming disorganized, then energy can also be thought of as the ability to “organize” a system.
An example would be putting a ball on a shelf to keep things “organized”. On that shelf, it can fall out of place and become easily “disorganized” but it can’t fall back onto the shelf and become organized without work or energy being added to it (putting it on the shelf with your hands).
Energy is conserved. It is neither created or destroyed. Potential energy is energy stored in an object’s position. A rock held above the ground has potential energy due to its height and weight. An electron next to another electron has potential energy due to this proximity.
By pushing an object against the force acting on it, you do work and add energy to the potential energy. By pushing those electrons together or raising that rock higher, you do work and increase the potential energy.
If you let it go, then that force will do work back on the object. Uninhibited, all of that potential energy becomes kinetic energy in the object. Realistically, much of it may become light or sound or heat as well (depending on what potential energy you’re talking about).
Could you explain your question like I am five? I can’t wrap my brain around what you are asking.
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