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).
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