Created by Allen Tsao (Bothell STEM Coach)
Module 3: Work & Energy
SECTION 1: WORK
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Relevant Equations
Key Concepts
● Work is a scalar quantity, so it has no direction. However, it can be positive or negative (but the sign
does not indicate direction)
● To compute work, you take the component of force that is parallel to the displacement and multiply them
together.
● If the force component is opposite the direction of displacement, the work is negative. If the force
component is in the same direction as displacement, the work is positive.
● If the force is perpendicular to the displacement, it does no work.
● In a graph of Force vs Displacement, the area under the curve is the work.
Examples
Example #1: Suppose you drag a 7 kg box with a rope at an angle of 40° to the horizontal. You drag the rope a
distance of 25 m. The tension in the rope is 30 N.
(a) How much work is done by the rope?
(b) How much work is done by the normal force?
(c) How much work is done by gravity?
Example #2: A box of mass 10 kg is sitting on an elevator and accelerating upwards at 2 m/s2. The elevator travels
upwards a distance of 10 m.
(a) How much work is done by the normal force on the box?
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(b) How much work is done by gravity?
(c) What is the total work done on the box?
Example #3: Consider the graph of a force acting on a car. What is the work done on the car over the first 35
meters?
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SECTION 2: KINETIC ENERGY AND THE WORK-ENERGY
THEOREM
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Relevant Equations
Key Concepts
● Like work, energy is a scalar quantity. It can be positive or negative, but it does not have direction.
● Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. If an object has speed, it has kinetic energy.
● Work by an external force causes a change in kinetic energy.
Examples
Example #1: A block of 3 kg is pushed horizontally with a constant net force of 10 N. After the block has been
moved 10 meters, how fast is the block moving? Assume the block starts at rest.
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Example #2: A car’s bumper is designed to withstand a 1.1 m/s collision with an immovable object without damage
to the body of the car. The bumper cushions the shock by absorbing the force over a distance. Calculate the
magnitude of the average force on a bumper that collapses 0.2 m while bringing a 900 kg car to rest from an initial
speed of 1.1 m/s.
Example #3: A ball of 2 kg is dropped from a height of 10 meters. Calculate the speed of the ball before it strikes
the ground using the Work-Energy theorem.
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Example #4: Using energy considerations, calculate the average force a 60.0-kg sprinter exerts backward on the
track to accelerate from 2.00 to 8.00 m/s in a distance of 25.0 m, if he encounters a headwind that exerts an average
force of 30.0 N against him.
SECTION 3: GRAVITATIONAL POTENTIAL ENERGY AND
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY
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Relevant Equations
(near a planetary body’s surface)
Key Concepts
● We only include gravitational potential energy if the Earth is part of the system. Thus, gravity is an
internal force and doesn’t do external work on the system.
● Near the surface of the Earth, the gravitational potential energy is proportional to the height ( ).
● Potential energy is relative to a specific height. So we usually set the lowest point in the problem to a
height of 0 in order to calculate the potential energy.
● We calculate the total energy by summing the kinetic energy of every object and any gravitational
potential energy (assuming the Earth is part of the system)
● If there is no external work on the system, then we can apply conservation of energy.
Examples
Example #1: Find the final speed and the time taken for a skier who skies 70.0 m along a 30º slope neglecting
friction:
(a) Starting from rest.
(b) Starting with an initial speed of 2.50 m/s.
Example #2: Using energy considerations and assuming negligible air resistance, show that a rock thrown from a
bridge 20.0 m above water with an initial speed of 15.0 m/s strikes the water with a speed of 24.8 m/s independent
of the direction thrown.
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Example #3: A small block of mass 0.2 kg starts at rest at A, slides to B where its speed is vB = 8.0m/s, then slides
along the horizontal surface a distance 10 m before coming to rest at C. (See below.)
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(a) What is the work of friction along the curved surface?
(b) What is the coefficient of kinetic friction along the horizontal surface?
Quiz Problems
Practice Problem #1 (Link to Solution):
A girl on a skateboard (total mass of 40 kg) is moving at a speed of 10 m/s at the bottom of a long ramp. The ramp
is inclined at 20° with respect to the horizontal. If she travels 14.2 m upward along the ramp before stopping, what
is the net frictional force on her?
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Practice Problem #2 (Link to Solution):
A small block of mass m slides without friction around the loop-the-loop apparatus shown below.
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with medium confidence
(a) If the block starts from rest at A, what is its speed at B?
(b) What is the force of the track on the block at B?
Practice Problem #3 (Link to Solution):
A small object of mass 0.25 kg is placed at the top of an incline that is essentially frictionless. The object slides
down the incline onto a rough horizontal surface, where it stops after traveling 60 m. The coefficient of kinetic
friction of the rough surface is 0.3.
(a) What is the speed of the object at the bottom of the incline and its acceleration along the horizontal surface?
(b) What is the height of the incline?
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SECTION 4: GRAVITATIONAL POTENTIAL ENERGY – FAR
FROM THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH
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Relevant Equations
(far from planet’s surface or for planetary bodies)
Key Concepts
● When we get further from the surface of a planet, the gravitational force is no longer equal to mg
● We use this gravitational potential equation between two masses that are separated by great distances
● Every pair of masses has a potential energy. So the potential energy of a system is the sum of every pair
of masses.
Your Notes
Examples
Example #1:
(a) Evaluate the gravitational potential energy between two 5.00-kg spherical steel balls separated by a center-to-
center distance of 15.0 cm.
(b) Assuming that they are both initially at rest relative to each other in deep space, use conservation of energy to
find how fast they will be traveling upon impact. Each sphere has a radius of 5.10 cm.
Example #2: An average-sized asteroid located 5.0×1010 m from Earth with mass 2.0×1013 kg is detected headed
directly toward Earth with speed of 2000 m/s. What will its speed be just before it hits our atmosphere? Assume the
radius of the Earth is 6.37×106 m, and the mass of the Earth is 5.97×1024 kg.
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Example #3: There are 3 spheres of equal mass (100 kg). They are all the same distance from each other at a
distance of 0.01 m. What is the total gravitational potential energy of the 3 spheres?
SECTION 5: SPRING POTENTIAL ENERGY
Link to Lesson
Relevant Equations
Key Concepts
● To stretch or compress a spring takes work (must apply a force over displacement).
● That work is stored as potential energy in the spring.
● If a spring is compressed or stretched, then there’s energy stored in the spring.
Your Notes
Examples
Example #1: The massless spring of a spring gun has a force constant k = 1200 N/m. When the gun is aimed
vertically, a 15-g projectile is shot to a height of 5.0 m above the end of the expanded spring. (See below.) How
much was the spring compressed initially?
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Example #2: A block of mass 0.5 kg is attached to a spring of spring constant 80 N/m (see the following figure).
The other end of the spring is attached to a support while the mass rests on a rough surface with a coefficient of
friction of 0.20 that is inclined at an angle of 30°. The block is pushed along the surface till the spring compresses
by 10 cm and is then released from rest.
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A picture containing text, hanger
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(a) How much potential energy was stored in the block-spring-support system when the block was just released?
(b) Determine the speed of the block when it crosses the point when the spring is neither compressed nor
stretched.
Example #3: An object of mass 10 kg is released at point A, slides to the bottom of the 30° rough incline, then
collides with a horizontal massless spring, compressing it to a maximum distance of 0.75 m. (See below.) The
spring constant is 500 N/m, the height of the incline is 2.0 m, and the horizontal surface is frictionless.
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automatically generated
(a) What is the speed of the object at the bottom of the incline?
(b) What is the work of friction on the object while it is on the incline?
(c) The spring recoils and sends the object back toward the incline. What is the speed of the object when it reaches
the base of the incline?
(d) What vertical distance does it move back up the incline?
Quiz Problems
Practice Problem #1 (Link to Solution):
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A 2 kg block is dropped from a height of 10 meters. It lands on top of a spring with spring constant k = 500 N/m.
What is the maximum compression of the spring?
Practice Problem #2 (Link to Solution):
A marble of mass m is compressed against a spring with spring constant k and released. It travels around a loop of
radius R. What is the minimum compression distance needed for the marble to make it around the loop without
losing contact with the track. Assume the size of the marble is small compared to the loop.
Shape Description automatically generated with medium
confidence
SECTION 6: AP PROBLEMS
2015 Free Response #3
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2016 Free Response #2
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2017 Free Response #4
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2019 Free Response #3
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2021 Free Response #1
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2022 Free Response #1
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Ay 1. (7 points, suggested time 13 minutes) Two blocks are connected by a string that passes over a
pulley, as shown above. Block I is on a horizontal surface and is attached to a spring that is at its
unstretched length. Frictional forces are negligible in the pulley's axle and between the block and the
surface. Block 2 is released from rest and moves downward before momentarily coming to rest. ko is the
spring constant of the spring. Ml is the mass of block 1. M2 is the mass Of block 2. Ay is the distance
block 2 moves before momentarily coming to rest.
(a) i. Block 2 starts from rest and speeds up, then it slows down and momentarily comes to rest at a
position below its initial position. In terms of only the forces directly exerted on block 2, explain why
block 2 initially speeds up and explain why it slows down to a momentary stop. ii. Derive an expression
for the distance Ay that block 2 travels before momentarily coming to rest. Express your answer in terms
Of ko, Ml, M2, and physical constants, as appropriate.
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(b) Indicate whether the total mechanical energy Of the blocks-spring-Earth system changes as block 2
moves downward. Changes Does not change Briefly explain your reasoning.
Consider the system that includes the spring, Earth, both blocks, and the string, but not the surface. Let
the initial state be when the blocks are at rest just before they start moving, and let the final state be
when the blocks first come momentarily to rest. Diagram A at left below is a bar chart that represents the
energies in the scenario where there is negligible friction between block I and the surface. The shaded-in
bars in the energy bar charts represent the potential energy of the spring and the gravitational potential
energy Of the blocks-Earth system, Us and U , respectively, in the initial and final states. Positive energy
values are above the zero-point line ("O") and negative energy values are below the zero-point line.
Diagram A: Negligible Friction Diagram B: Nonnegligible Friction Us Ug o Initial Us Ug Final Us Ug o
Initial Final (c) Complete diagram B (at right above) for the scenario in which friction is nonnegligible.
The energies for the initial state are already provided. Shade in the energies in the final state using the
same scale as in diagram A. • Shaded regions should start at the solid line representing the zero-point line.
• Represent any energy that is equal to zero with a distinct line on the zero-point line.
AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #1
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #2
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #3
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #4
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #5
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #6
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #7
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #8
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #9
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #10
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AP Practice Problem: Work & Energy #11
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Section 7: AP Multiple Choice Questions
Link to Work & Energy MCQ
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