University Physics with Modern Physics

Fifteenth Edition

Chapter 7
Potential Energy
and Energy
Conservation

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Learning Outcomes
In this chapter, you’ll learn…
• how to use gravitational potential energy in problems that
involve vertical motion.
• how to use elastic potential energy in problems that involve
a moving object attached to a stretched or compressed
spring.
• the distinction between conservative and nonconservative
forces. (Conservative forces always have a corresponding
potential-energy function.)
• how to use energy diagrams to understand how an object
moves under the influence of a conservative force.
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Introduction
• How do energy concepts apply to the descending
sandhill crane?
• We will see that we can think of energy as being
stored and transformed from one form to another.

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Gravitational Potential Energy (1 of 3)
• When a particle is in the gravitational field of the earth,
there is a gravitational potential energy associated
with the particle:

• As the basketball descends,

gravitational potential energy
is converted to kinetic energy
and the basketball’s speed
increases.

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Gravitational Potential Energy (2 of 3)
• The change in gravitational potential energy is related
to the work done by gravity.

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Gravitational Potential Energy (3 of 3)
• When the object
moves up, y
increases, the work
done by the
gravitational force is
negative, and the
gravitational potential
energy increases.

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The Conservation of Mechanical
Energy (1 of 2)
• The total mechanical energy of a system is the sum of its kinetic
energy and potential energy.
• A quantity that always has the same value is called a conserved
quantity.
• When only the force of gravity does work on a system, the total
mechanical energy of that system is conserved.
• This is an example of the conservation of mechanical energy.

• Video Tutor Demonstration: Chin Basher?

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The Conservation of Mechanical
Energy (2 of 2)
• When only the force of gravity does work on a system,
the total mechanical energy of that system is
conserved.

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 7.1

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When Forces Other Than Gravity Do
Work

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Work and Energy Along a Curved
Path
• We can use the same
expression for gravitational
potential energy whether
the object’s path is curved
or straight.
• Wgrav = mgy1 − mgy2

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Conceptual Example 7.3
• Two identical balls leave from the same height with
the same speed but at different angles.

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Elastic Potential Energy (1 of 2)
• A object is elastic if it returns to its original shape after
being deformed.
• Elastic potential energy is the energy stored in an
elastic object, such as a spring:

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Elastic Potential Energy (2 of 2)
• The Achilles tendon acts like a
natural spring.
• When it stretches and then
relaxes, this tendon stores
and then releases elastic
potential energy.
• This spring action reduces the
amount of work your leg
muscles must do as you run.

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Work Done by a Spring
• Figure 7.13 below shows how a spring does work on a
block as it is stretched and compressed.

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Elastic Potential Energy
• The graph of elastic
potential energy for an
ideal spring is a parabola.
• x is the extension or
compression of the
spring.
• Elastic potential energy is
never negative.

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Situations with Both Gravitational
and Elastic Forces
• When a situation involves
both gravitational and elastic
forces, the total potential
energy is the sum of the
gravitational potential energy
and the elastic potential
energy:
U = Ugrav + Uel

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Conservative and Nonconservative
Forces
• A conservative force allows conversion between kinetic
and potential energy. Gravity and the spring force are
conservative.
• The work done between two points by any conservative
force
a) can be expressed in terms of a potential energy function.
b) is reversible.
c) is independent of the path between the two points.
d) is zero if the starting and ending points are the same.
• A force (such as friction) that is not conservative is called a
nonconservative force, or a dissipative force.
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Conservative Forces
• The work done by a
conservative force
such as gravity
depends on only the
endpoints of a path,
not the specific path
taken between those
points.

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Nonconservative Forces
• As an automobile tire flexes as it rolls,
nonconservative internal friction forces
act within the rubber.
• Mechanical energy is lost and
converted to internal energy of the tire.
• This causes the temperature and
pressure of a tire to increase as it rolls.
• That’s why tire pressure is best
checked before the car is driven, when
the tire is cold.
• Video Tutor Solution: Example 7.11

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Conservation of Energy
• Nonconservative forces do not store potential energy,
but they do change the internal energy of a system.
• The law of conservation of energy means that
energy is never created or destroyed; it only changes
form.
• This law can be expressed as K  U  Uint  0.

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Example

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Example

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Example

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Force and Potential Energy in One
Dimension (1 of 3)
• In one dimension, a conservative force can be
obtained from its potential energy function using:

• In regions where U(x) changes most rapidly with x,

this corresponds to a large force magnitude.
• Also, when Fx(x) is in the positive x-direction, U(x)
decreases with increasing x.
• A conservative force always acts to push the system
toward lower potential energy.
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Force and Potential Energy in One
Dimension (2 of 3)
• Elastic potential energy and force as functions of x for
an ideal spring.

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Force and Potential Energy in One
Dimension (3 of 3)
• Gravitational potential energy and the gravitational
force as functions of y.

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Force and Potential Energy in Three
Dimensions (1 of 2)
• In three dimensions, the components of a
conservative force can be obtained from its potential
energy function using partial derivatives:

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Force and Potential Energy in Three
Dimensions (2 of 2)
• When we take the partial derivative of U with respect
to each coordinate, multiply by the corresponding unit
vector, and then take the vector sum, this is called the
gradient of U:

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 7.14

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Force and Potential Energy
• The greater the elevation of a hiker
in Canada’s Banff National Park, the
greater the gravitational potential
energy Ugrav.
• Where the mountains have steep
slopes, Ugrav has a large gradient
and there’s a strong force pushing
you along the mountain’s surface
toward a region of lower elevation
(and hence lower Ugrav).
• There’s zero force along the surface
of the lake, which is all at the same
elevation.
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Energy Diagrams
• An energy diagram is a
graph that shows both the
potential-energy function
U(x) and the total
mechanical energy E.
• The figure illustrates the
energy diagram for a glider
attached to a spring on an
air track.

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Force and a Graph of Its Potential-
Energy Function
• For any graph of potential energy versus x, the
dU
corresponding force is Fx  
dx
.

• Whenever the slope of U is zero, the force there is

zero, and this is a point of equilibrium.
• When U is at a minimum, the force near the minimum
draws the object closer to the minimum, so it is a
restoring force. This is called stable equilibrium.
• When U is at a maximum, the force near the
maximum draws the object away from the maximum.
This is called unstable equilibrium.
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Unstable Equilibrium
• Each of these acrobats is in
unstable equilibrium.
• The gravitational potential
energy is lower no matter
which way an acrobat tips,
so if she begins to fall she
will keep on falling.
• Staying balanced requires
the acrobats’ constant
attention.

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