Kinetic and Potential Energy

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  • Created by: LFreeland
  • Created on: 11-09-18 16:26

Kinetic Energy

Kinetic Energy

A moving object has energy in its kinetic energy store. Energy is transferred to this store as the object speeds up and transferred away when it slows down.

The energy in the kinetic energy stores depends on the mass and speed of the object. Increasing one of these causes an increase in kinetic energy store.

KE=1/2 mass x velocity squared

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Gravitational Potential Energy

Lifting an object in a gravitational field requires work. This causes a transfer in energy to the object's gravitational potential energy store.

The amount of energy depends on the mass, height and gravitational field strength. This means lifting an object higher increases its gravitational potential energy stores.

GPE= mass x height x gravitational field strength (9.8 on Earth)

A falling onject tranfers energy from its gpe stores to it ke stores.

Energy lost from GPE stores= Energy gained to ke stores.

However in real life their would be air resistance causing energy to be transferred to other energy stores eg. thermal energy stores of the object and surroundings

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