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Can you run your TV when the power goes out? Can you speed 40 km per hour with your car that has run out of gas? Can you carry a heavy object after a long period of fasting? If you don’t have enough energy, you can’t do work. We need energy to warm up, move and make something move. The ability of an object to do work is called energy.
There are many types of energy. Chemical energy, heat energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, sound energy, wind energy, nuclear energy, and mechanical energy are some of them.
Potential Energy
The type of energy that objects have due to their location is called potential energy. We actually store the energy we spend while lifting the objects up from the ground by giving height to the object. This energy stored in objects above the ground is called gravitational potential energy.
As the height and mass of the object increase, the gravitational potential energy also increases.
Objects that change shape when force is applied and can return to their original state when the applied force is removed are called elastic objects. The energy stored in these objects at the time of stretching and compression of flexible objects is called elastic potential energy.
When objects such as springs, rubber bands, sponges are compressed and stretched, they store elastic potential energy.
Kinetic Energy
The energy possessed by objects in motion is called kinetic energy. The running child, the wind, the flowing water in the waterfall, the moving vehicles in the traffic all have kinetic energy. Kinetic energy depends on the speed and mass of the moving object.
What is the Relationship Between Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy?
The gravitational force acting on an object falling towards the ground does work on the object and therefore the kinetic energy of the object increases. That is, there is an inversely proportional relationship between the potential energy of the object and its kinetic energy. As potential energy decreases, kinetic energy conversion takes place and kinetic energy increases.
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