13
WorkandPotentialEnergy
(A)
13-1EnergyofafallingbodyInChapter4wediscussedtheconservationofenergy.Inthatdiscussion,wedidnotuseNewton'slaws,butitis,ofcourse,ofgreatinteresttoseehowItcomesaboutthatenergyisinfactconservedinaccordancewiththeselaws.Forclarityweshallstartwiththesimplestpossibleexample,andthendevelopharderandharderexamples.Thesimplestexampleoftheconservationofenergyisaverticallyfallingobject,onethatmovesonlyinaverticaldirection.Anobjectwhichchangesitsheightundertheinfluenceofgravityalonehasakineticenergy
T
(orK.E.)duetoitsmotionduringthefall,andapotentialenergy
mgh,
abbreviated
U
orP.E.,whosesumisconstant:
~mv2
+
mgh
=
const,
KEPE
or
T
+
U
=
const.(13.1)Nowwewouldlike
to
showthatthisstatementistrue.Whatdowemean,showitistrue?FromNewton'sSecondLawwecaneasilytellhowtheobjectmoves,anditiseasytofindouthowthevelocityvarieswithtime,namely,thatitincreasesproportionallywiththetime,andthattheheightvariesasthesquareofthetime.Soifwemeasuretheheightfromazeropointwheretheobjectisstationary,itisnomiraclethattheheightturnsouttobeequaltothesquareofthevelocitytimesanumberofconstants.However,letuslookatitalittlemoreclosely.Letusfindout
directly
fromNewton'sSecondLawhowthekineticenergyshouldchange,bytakingthederivativeofthekineticenergywithrespecttotimeandthenusingNewton'slaws.Whenwedifferentiate
!mv
2
withrespecttotime,weobtain
dTd
12
1
dodo
--=--
(-mv)
=
.m2v-
=
mv-,dtdt
22
dtdt
(13.2)since
m
isassumedconstant.ButfromNewton'sSecondLaw,
m(du/dt)
=
F,
sothat
dT/dt
=
Fo.
(13.3)Ingeneral,itwillcomeouttobeF.v,butinourone-dimensionalcaseletusleaveitastheforcetimesthevelocity.Nowinoursimpleexampletheforceisconstant,equalto
-mg,
averticalforce(theminussignmeansthatitactsdownward),andthevelocity,ofcourse,istherateofchangeoftheverticalposition,orheight
h,
withtime.Thustherateofchangeofthekineticenergyis
-mg(dh/dt),
whichquantity,miracleofmiracles,istherateofchangeofsomethingelse!
It
isthetimerateofchangeof
mgh!
Therefore,astimegoeson,thechangesinkineticenergyandinthequantity
mgh
areequalandopposite,sothatthesumofthetwoquantitiesremainsconstant.Q.E.D.Wehaveshown,fromNewton'ssecondlawofmotion,thatenergyiscon-servedforconstantforceswhenweaddthepotentialenergy
mgh
tothekineticenergy!mv
2.
Nowletuslookintothisfurtherandseewhetheritcanbegeneralized,andthusadvanceourunderstanding.Doesitworkonlyforafreelyfallingbody,orisitmoregeneral?Weexpectfromourdiscussionoftheconservationofenergy
13-1
13-1Energyofafallingbody13-2Workdonebygravity13-3Summationofenergy
13-4
Gravitationalfieldoflargeobjects
Fig.13-1.AnobjectmovingonafrictionlesscurveunderTheinfluenceof
gravity.thatitwouldworkforanobjectmovingfromonepointtoanotherinsomekindoffrictionlesscurve,undertheinfluenceofgravity(Fig.13-1).Iftheobjectreachesacertainheight
h
fromtheoriginalheight
H,
thenthesameformulashouldagainberight,eventhoughthevelocityisnowinsomedirectionotherthanthevertical.Wewouldliketounderstand
why
thelawisstillcorrect.Letusfollowthesameanalysis,findingthetimerateofchangeofthekineticenergy.Thiswillagainbe
mv(dv/dt),
but
m(dv/dt)
istherateofchangeofthemagnitudeofthemomentum,i.e.,
the/orce
In
thedirectionofmotion+-tnc
tangentialforce
Ft.
ThusNowthespeedistherateofchangeofdistancealongthecurve,
dsf
dt,
andthetangentialforce
F,
isnot
mg
butisweakerbytheratioofthedistance
ds
alongthepathtotheverticaldistance
dh.
Inotherwords,
F.
dh
t-
mg
sm8
=-
mgds'
sothat
r,
cJ!..
=
-mg(dh)(dS)dtdsdtdh-mgdt'
sincethe
ds's
cancel.Thusweget
-mg(dh/dt),
whichisequaltotherateofchangeof
mgh,
asbefore.Inordertounderstandexactlyhowtheconservationofenergyworksingeneralinmechanics,weshallnowdISCUSSanumberofconceptswhichWIllhelpustoanalyzeIt.First,wediscusstherateofchangeofkineticenergyingeneralinthreedimensions.ThekineticenergyinthreedimensionsisWhenwedifferentiatethiswithrespecttotime,wegetthreeterrifyingterms:(13.4)But
m(d1!x/dt)
istheforce
Fx
actingontheobjectinthex-direction.ThustherightsideofEq.(13.4)is
Fx1!x
+
Fyvy
+
F
z1!z.
Werecallourvectoranalysisandrecog-nizethisasF.v;therefore
dT/dl=F·v.
(13.5)Thisresultcanbederivedmorequicklyasfollows:ifaandbaretwovectors,bothofwhichmaydependuponthetime,thederivativeofa.bis,ingeneral,
d(a'b)/dt
=
a'
db/dt
+
(da/dt).
b.
(13.6)Wethenusethisintheforma
=
b
=
v:(13.7)Becausetheconceptsofkineticenergy,andenergyingeneral,aresoimpor-tant,variousnameshavebeengiventotheimportanttermsinequationssuchasthese.
~mv2
is,asweknow,called
kineticenergy.
F·viscalled
power:
theforceactingonanobjecttimesthevelocityoftheobject(vector"dot"product)isthepowerbeingdeliveredtotheobjectbythatforce.Wethushaveamarveloustheorem:
therateofchangeofkineticenergyofanobject
IS
equaltothepowerexpendedbytheforcesactingon
it.
However,tostudytheconservationofenergy,wewanttoanalyzethisstillmoreclosely.Letusevaluatethechangeinkineticenergyinaveryshorttime
dt.
If
wemultiplybothsidesofEq.(13.7)by
dt,
wefindthatthedifferentialchangein
13-2
thekineticenergyistheforce"dot"thedifferentialdistancemoved:
dT
=
F·
ds.
(13.8)Ifwenowintegrate,weget(13.9)Whatdoesthismean?
It
meansthatifanobjectismoving
inanyway
undertheinfluenceofaforce,movinginsomekindofcurvedpath,thenthechangeinK.E.whenitgoesfromonepointtoanotheralongthecurveisequaltotheintegralofthecomponentoftheforcealongthecurvetimesthedifferentialdisplacement
ds,
theintegralbeingcarriedoutfromonepointtotheother.Thisintegralalsohasaname;itIScalledthe
workdonebytheforceontheobject.
Weseeimmediatelythat
powerequalsworkdonepersecond.
WealsoseethatItisonlyacomponentofforce
In
thedirectionofmotion
thatcontributestotheworkdone.Inoursimpleexampletheforceswereonlyvertical,andhadonlyasinglecomponent,say
F.,
equalto
-mg.
Nomatterhowtheobjectmovesinthosecircumstances,fallinginaparabolaforexample,
F.
ds,
whichcanbewrittenas
Fx
dx
+
Fy
dy
+
F,
dz,
hasnothingleftofItbut
F,
dz
=
-mgdz,
becausetheothercomponentsofforcearezero.Therefore,inoursimplecase,
2
'2
i.r=>!
-mgdz=-mg(Z2-ZI),
1'1
(13.10)soagainwefindthatitisonlythe
verticalheight
fromwhichtheobjectfallsthatcountstowardthepotentialenergy.Awordaboutunits.Sinceforcesaremeasuredinnewtons,andwemultiplybyadistanceinordertoobtainwork,workismeasuredin
newton'meters
(n.m),butpeopledonotliketosaynewton-meters,theyprefertosay
joules
(j).
Anewton-meteriscalledaJoule;workismeasuredinjoules.Power,then,isjoulespersecond,andthatisalsocalleda
watt
(w).
If
wemultiplywattsbytime,theresultistheworkdone.Theworkdonebytheelectricalcompanyinourhouses,technically,isequaltothewattstimesthetime.Thatiswherewegetthingslikekilowatthours,1000wattstime53600seconds,or3.6X10
6
joules.Nowwetakeanotherexampleofthelawofconservationofenergy.Consideranobjectwhichinitiallyhaskineticenergyandismovingveryfast,andwhichslidesagainstthefloorwithfriction.
It
stops.Atthestartthekineticenergyis
not
zero,butattheendit
is
zero;thereisworkdonebytheforces,becausewheneverthereisfrictionthereisalwaysacomponentofforceinadirectionoppositetothatofthemotion,andsoenergyissteadilylost.Butnowletustakeamassontheendofapivotswinginginaverticalplaneinagravitationalfieldwithnofriction.Whathappenshereisdifferent,becausewhenthemassISgoinguptheforceisdownward,andwhenItiscomingdown,theforceisalsodownward.ThusF.
ds
hasonesigngoingupandanothersigncomingdown.AteachcorrespondingpointofthedownwardandupwardpathsthevaluesofF.
ds
areexactlyequalinsizebutofoppositesign,sothenetresultoftheintegralwillbezeroforthiscase.Thusthekineticenergywithwhichthemasscomesbacktothebottomisthesameasithadwhenitleft,thatistheprincipleoftheconservationofenergy.(Notethatwhentherearefrictionforcestheconservationofenergyseemsatfirstsighttobeinvalid.Wehavetofindanother
form
ofenergy.
It
turnsout,infact,that
heat
isgeneratedinanobjectwhenitrubsanotherwithfriction,butatthemomentwesupposedlydonotknowthat.)
13-2Workdone
by
gravity
Thenextproblemtobediscussedismuchmoredifficultthantheabove;ithastodowiththecasewhentheforcesarenotconstant,orsimplyvertical,astheywereinthecaseswehaveworkedout.Wewanttoconsideraplanet,forexample,movingaroundthesun,orasatelliteinthespacearoundtheearth.
13-3
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