Work, Energy and

Power
Energy
Energy of a system is defined as its capacity to do work. (Note: Work is covered
in the next sub-topic)
 SI unit : joules (J)
 Scalar Quantity; Energy has magnitude only.
Principle of Conservation of Energy
The Principle of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created nor
destroyed in any process.

 Total amount of energy of a closed system remains constant.

 Energy can be converted/transformed from one form to another.
(Note: You can think of the different forms of energy as some form of
“currencies”, whereby the exchange rates among the different “currencies”
are 1:1.)
 E.g. 1: A television converts electrical energy(electricity)
into light, sound and thermal energies.
 E.g. 2: Burning of fuels (wood) converts stored chemical energy into
heat and light energies.
 It can also be transferred from one body to another through work
done and/or heat exchanges.
Forms of Energy
 Potential Energy (Elastic, gravitational and chemical)
 Kinetic Energy (or mechanical energy)
 Electrical Energy
 Thermal Energy (or heat)
 Light
 Nuclear Energy
Kinetic Energy

Kinetic Energy, Ek is the energy a body possessed by virtue of its motion.

  Moving objects have kinetic energy.
 Kinetic energy can be used to do work.
Ek=1/2mv2
where m = Mass (in kg), v = Velocity (in m s−1)
Potential Energy

Potential Energy is the stored energy in a system.

 Example of chemical potential energy: Wood; When you burn wood, the
chemical potential energy in wood is converted into thermal energy (heat)
and light.
 Example of elastic potential energy: Rubber band; When you stretch a
rubber band, elastic potential energy is stored in the stretched rubber
band.
Gravitational Potential Energy

Gravitational Potential Energy is defined as the amount of work done in order

to raise the body to the height h from a reference level.
G.P.E.=mgh
, where m = mass (in kg), g = acceleration due to gravity (in m s−2), h = height (in
m)
Conversion of Gravitational Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy & Vice Versa

An object at X m above the reference level (commonly taken to be the ground
level) will have gravitational potential energy of mgX. When the object is
released from the height (X m), the object will have all its gravitational potential
energy gradually converted into kinetic energy, just before it hits the ground.
(Assuming that there is no air resistance)
From the diagram above, the conversion of kinetic energy to gravitational
potential energy, and back to kinetic energy is shown.

The next few sub-topics contain some case studies and worked examples. The
case studies (oscillating pendulum and bouncing balls) and worked
examples highlight the conversion of kinetic energy into gravitational potential
energy and vice versa. They will help to solidify your understanding towards the
concept.
Case Study 1: Energy Conversion for an
Oscillating Ideal Pendulum
Consider an ideal pendulum (as shown in the diagram below). Note that ideal
pendulum means that there is no energy lost to overcome air resistance
and friction during oscillation.
When a pendulum is displaced to one side (Point A), it gains gravitational
potential energy. The amount of gravitational potential energy gained will
be mgh, where h is the height difference of point A and point B.
When the raised pendulum is released from A, it will swing towards the
equilibrium position (Point B). During this movement, the gravitational potential
energy is converted into kinetic energy. Hence, at B, gravitational potential
energy is at minimum, while kinetic energy is at maximum.
From Point B, the pendulum will swing upwards to the other side (Point D).
During this movement, the pendulum will lose kinetic energy and gain
gravitational potential energy. Since this is an ideal pendulum, the pendulum will
swing up to Point D, where Point D is at the same height as Point A.

Energy Conservation Equations

From the Principle of Conservation of Energy, we know that energy cannot be
created nor destroyed in any process. Hence, in summary, the relevant energy
conservation equations are:

From Point A to Point B,

Initial G.P.E. of pendulum at Point A=Final K.E. of pendulum at Point B

From Point B to Point D,

Initial K.E. of pendulum at Point B=Final G.P.E. of pendulum at Point D

Energy Loss Due to Resistive Forces

In the real world, resistive forces like frictional and drag forces, air resistance,
convert some of the total energy of the swinging pendulum into thermal energy.
This thermal energy will be dissipated into the surroundings and cannot be
converted back into the kinetic or gravitational potential energy of the pendulum.
From this, it can be seen that the pendulum system will lose energy (due to air
resistance) and the pendulum bob will reach a lower height with each successive
swing.

However, please note that the total energy is still conserved. (Total energy
referred to in this statement is the total energy of the Universe)

Energy Conversion for an Oscillating Non-Ideal

Pendulum
In summary, for a non-ideal pendulum (accounting for the dissipative effects of
friction and air resistance), the relevant energy conservation equations are:

From Point A to Point B,

Initial G.P.E. of pendulum at Point A=Final K.E. of pendulum at Point

B+Energy lost due to friction and air resistance

From Point B to Point D,

Initial K.E. of pendulum at Point B=Final G.P.E. of pendulum at Point
D+Energy lost due to friction and air resistance.
Case Study 2: Energy Conversion for A
Bouncing Ball
Consider a ball with mass mm dropped from a height of h initial m from the
ground.
Stage 1: Initially, the ball will be at height h m above the ground and will have the
following properties:
 Gravitational Potential Energy of mgh initial
 Kinetic Energy: 0
 Since the ball will be falling, the gravitational potential energy will be
converted into kinetic energy + energy dissipated as heat into surroundings
(due to friction/air resistance)
Stage 2: Just before the ball touches the ground, the ball will have the following
properties:
 Gravitational Potential Energy is minimum (~ 0)
 Kinetic Energy is maximum (G.P. E−Energy dissipated as heat G.P.
E−Energy dissipated as heat)
 When the ball comes into contact with the ground, some energy will be lost
as heat and sound (the sound of the ball contacting the ground).
Stage 3: The ball will rebound. Just after the ball rebounds, the ball will have the
following properties:
 Gravitational Potential Energy is minimum (~ 0)
 Kinetic Energy is given by (G.P. E−Total Energy Dissipated G.P.
E−Total Energy Dissipated)
 Since the ball will be rising, the kinetic energy will be converted into
gravitational potential energy + energy dissipated as heat into
surroundings (due to friction/air resistance).
Stage 4: The ball reaches maximum height, h max. At this point, the ball will have
the following properties:
 Gravitational Potential Energy of mgh max
 Kinetic Energy: 0
 Since energy is lost (due to friction/air resistance and at the bounce), the
new maximum height (h max) will be lower than the initial maximum height
(h initial).
 This means that the new G.P.E is smaller than the initial G.P.E.
 The ball will never reach the height h initial
Work

Work is done when a force moves the object in the direction of the force and is
given by the product of the force and the distance moved in the direction.
 W=F×d, Where W= Work, F = Constant Force (N), d = Distance moved in
the direction of the force (m)
 SI Unit for work is joules (J)
 One joule is defined as the work done when a force of one newton (N)
moves an object through a distance of one metre (m) in the direction of the
force
 Other unit for work: Nm (Newton metre), which is obtained by multiplying
the unit for force and distance.
Conditions when NO work is done
NO work is done when
 1. the object does not move (E.g. A boy pushing against a tree does no work)
2. the direction of the force and the direction in which the point of application
moves are perpendicular to one another (E.g. A boy carrying a stack of
books while walking. No work is done on the stack of books in the upward
direction as the stack of book is only moving horizontally.)
If no work is done for the 2 scenarios above, WHY do you feel tired (if you are
the one doing the activity)?

Work to Kinetic Energy

When a force moves an object, it does work on the object and the object gains
kinetic energy. If there are no dissipative forces (i.e. friction/air resistance) on an
object (e.g. a box), 5 joules of work done on pushing the object will translate to
the object gaining 5 joules of kinetic energy.
Work to Gravitational Potential Energy

Recall that gravitational potential energy is the energy a body has due to its
position above a reference level (i.e. ground). In order to find the gravitational
potential energy of an object near the surface of the Earth, we need to consider
the work done to lift the object of mass mm to a height h above the reference
level at constant speed.
Consider an object with mass mm at ground level. A force FF is exerted on the
object in the upward direction in order to lift the object. The object is lifted at
constant speed to a height of h above the ground level.
Since the object is lifted at constant speed, the force FF is just the weight of the
object. (i.e. F=mg) Why? If the force is larger than the weight of the object, there
will be a net resultant force and the object will accelerate according to Newton’s
Second Law. If the force is smaller than the weight of the object, the force will not
be able to lift the object.
Since the work done by the object is given by:

W=F×h
We will obtain:

W=mg×h=mgh
From the above, we “derived” the equation for gravitational potential energy from
work done equation!

Power
Power is defined as the rate of work done or energy converted with respect to
time.
P=Wt. OR P=Et
, where W = work, t = time, E = Energy
SI Unit for power is watt (W), scalar quantity
 One watt (W) is defined as the rate of work done or energy conversion of
one joule per second.
 One watt=one joule/one second→ 1W=1J s−1
Power tells us how fast work is being done or how fast energy is being converted
from one form to another.

Another useful equation for power:

P=Fv
, where F = force, v = velocity (Simple derivation below)
Simple derivation of P = Fv
In some questions, the formulation of power in terms of force and velocity will be
useful in the problem-solving. The formula P=Fv can be simply derived as seen
below:
P=W/t
=F×d /t
=Fv where v=d/t
Efficiency
From the Principle of Conservation of Energy, we know that the total energy
output of a machine must be equal to its energy input. However, it is found that
the energy output of a machine is always less than the energy input. This
phenomena can be attributed to the work done against frictional forces, which is
considered as wasted energy output.
Hence, we have:

Energy input = useful energy output + wasted energy output

Efficiency of a system is given by

Efficiency=Useful energy / output Total energy input ×100%