What is a conservative

force?
Throw a ball up in the air. You have provided it with an initial
velocity (how else will it go up) and therefore also imparted it
Kinetic Energy (KE) right at the beginning. Observe the ball move
up.
As the ball moves up, you see the velocity of the ball is reducing
since the force of gravity is acting against it. In Physics, we say
that this force of gravity is doing negative work on the ball.
The ball has now reached the top, its velocity is zero. Basically
force of gravity has done enough negative work to reduce the
velocity to zero and therefore its KE has also becomes zero. Let’s
say this total work done by gravity in upward journey is W1 (it
would be a negative sign e.g. -4J or -10J)
But what has happened to the initial KE. The KE of the ball keeps
reducing as it moves up but another form of energy keeps
increasing. This other form of energy is Potential Energy (PE).
Thus the PE at start is zero and keeps increasing till all KE has
converted to PE by the time it reaches the top of the flight. The
gravitational force that did negative work on the ball increased the
PE of the ball.
Now imagine the downward path of the ball. It is ready to go back
to earth because it has the PE stored. As it moves down, the force
of gravity is helping it increase its velocity and therefore the KE.
We say that the force of gravity is doing positive work on the ball
(let us say it is W2 and it will be positive, like +4J or +10J etc.).
The KE keeps increasing and the PE keeps reducing, till all PE is
converted to KE when the ball hits the ground.
A force would be termed a conservative force if it meets the
following conditions-
1. The system consists of 2 or more objects. In this case it is
ball and earth
 2. The force acts between these 2 objects
3. Force does work on the object when the configuration of the
objects changes and transfers energy between KE and PE.
It is W1 in this case and the change in configuration is
nothing but the change in distance between the ball and
earth.
4. When the configuration is reversed, the force reverse the
energy transfer. In this case it is work W2 during the balls
downward journey
5. When W1 + W2 = 0, in a closed loop path, we say that the
force in play is a conservative force. Thus the total
Mechanical energy (PE+KE) of the system is conserved
Gravitational force, spring block system, magnetic force and
electric force are examples of conservative forces
Friction is not a conservative force since friction results in
dissipation of energy in form of heat that cannot be recovered. It
is therefore not potential energy that gets stored for use. A non
conservative force will therefore not result in zero work in a closed
loop system