LAW

OF
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY
§ §
By: J.Santos

We are going to deduce one of the most important theorems in physics, the LAW OF
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY . We begin with the second Newton Law.
d~v
F~ = m~a = m (1)
dt
Where m is the mass.
REMARK: Rigorously the mass in (1) is the inertial mass. You also find a mass in the
law of universal gravitation but that mass is called gravitational mass, the principle of
equivalence show that the inertial mass and gravitational mass are equivalently equal.
Now we can integrate (1) from position 1 to position 2 as follow:
R2
~ · d~s = 2 m d~v · d~s
R
F dt
R 12 1
~ · d~s = m 2 d~v · d~s
R
F dt
R1 2 R1
F~ · d~s = m 2 d~v · ~v
R12 R12
1
F~ · d~s = m ~v · d~v
1
(2)
Now, the left-hand-side of (2) is, by definition, the Work done by a force denoted by
W1→2 . In the right-hand-side of two we can solve this integral in cartesian coordinates
without lost of generality. Consider the following procedure:
~v =< vx , vy , vz >
3
X d~v
⇒ d~v = dvi =< dvx , dvy , dvz >
i=1
dvi
⇒ ~v · d~v = vx dvx + vy dvy + vz dvz
R2 R2
⇒ 1 ~v · d~v = 1 vx dvx + vy dvy + vz dvz
v2 2 2
h 2 i
= v2x + 2y + v2z
h v2 v 2 v 2
i h v2 1 v2 2
vz,1
i
= x,2 2
+ y,2
2
+ z,2
2
− x,1
2
+ y,1
2
+ 2
1
 2 2 2
 1 2 2 2

= 2 vx,2 + vy,2 + vz,2 − 2 vx,1 + vy,1 + vz,1
= 21 v22 − 12 v12 (3)
Using (3) in (2), we can write:
 mv2 mv12
W1→2 = m 21 v22 − 21 v12 = 2 2 −

2
W1→2 = T2 − T1 (4)
mv 2
Where by definition Ti ≡ 2 i is the Kinetic Energy. The expression (4) establishes a
general result that we can express as:

1
 The work done by a force, of any nature, is equal to the difference of kinetic energy
between position 1 and 2.

Now, from other point of view, we are going to consider that the field F~ is conservative,
that is, its rotational is zero then we can express F~ as:

F~ = −∇U (5)

Then by The Fundamental Theorem for Gradients we can integrate :

R2
~ · d~s = 2 −∇U · d~s = − [U ]2
R
1
F 1
R2 1
~
F · d~s = U1 − U2 (6)
1

But in the left-hand-side we have the definition of Work done by a force, so:

W1→2 = U1 − U2 (7)

Where Ui is the Potential Energy. This last result is not general as (4), we obtained (7)
under the supposition that F~ is a conservative field.
Now, by (4) and (7) we can write as follow:

T2 − T1 = U1 − U2
T2 + U2 = T1 + U1 (8)

But by definition the Total Energy is Ei = Ti + Ui . Then, we can finally write (8) as:

E2 = E1 (9)

The result in (9) establishes that the energy is the same in the beginning and in the end
of the trajectory, what is in essence the Law of conservation of energy one of the theorems
of conservation in the physics, that we can write as:

THE TOTAL ENERGY OF A PARTICLE IN A CONSERVATIVE

FIELD IS CONSTANT IN THE TIME.