• Question: how is potential energy converted to kinetic energy

    Asked by anon-356641 on 20 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 20 Mar 2023:

      It is one of the rules of the Universe that energy cannot be created or destroyed only changed from one form to another. Imagine a ball at the top of a hill. It has potential energy due to its position at the top of the hill. Push it the tiniest amount and that potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as the ball rolls down the hill. The same is true in a pendulum.

    • Photo: Emmett McKenna

      Emmett McKenna answered on 21 Mar 2023:

      There’s movement 😉
      Martin has provided a more serious answer but essentially.

      Total energy = Sum of different kinds of energy.
      In this example I’ll only use Potential & Kinetic, but in reality some of the potential will be converted to heat and sound from friction between the ball and both the hill it touches and air it moves through.

      The ball at the top of the hill = 100% Potential + 0% Kinetic energy
      The ball in the middle of the hill = 50% Potential + 50% Kinetic energy
      The ball at the bottom of the hill = 0% Potential + 100% Kinetic energy

    • Photo: Maryam Sani

      Maryam Sani answered on 22 Mar 2023:

      Potential energy is stored energy, and using that energy converts it to a different form. It involves movement then the potential energy change to kinetic energy one example could be pushing a trolley that was still.

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