What is potential energy?
Q: What is potential energy?
A: Potential energy is the stored or pent-up energy of an object. It is often contrasted with kinetic energy and is the energy which an object has due to its position in a force field or which a system has due to the way its parts are arranged.
Q: What are some common types of potential energy?
A: Common types of potential energy include gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, and electric potential energy.
Q: What is the SI unit for measuring energy?
A: The SI unit for measuring energy is the joule (symbol J).
Q: How does work become stored as potential energy?
A: Work becomes stored as potential when it is performed by an external force that works against the force field of the potential. This work is then stored in the force field as potential energy.
Q: How does potential change into kinetic?
A: When an external force that was working against a force field of a given position is removed, this causes the body to move back to its initial position, reducing any stretch on a spring or causing a body to fall. At this point, any existing potential changes into kinetic and total amount of overall stays constant due to law of conservation of Energy.
Q: How do physicists define Potential Energy?
A: Physicists say that Potential Energy can be defined as difference between energies of an object in given position and reference position.
