Physics Lecture Notes

1.4 Work and Energy

White Station High Physics Club

Memphis, Tennessee
2018-2019
1.4 Work and Energy

KHAN ACADEMY ​> Science > Physics > Work and energy
● Introduction to work and energy
● Work and energy (part 2)
● Conservation of energy
● What are energy and work?
● What is kinetic energy?
● What is gravitational potential energy?
● What is conservation of energy?
● What is thermal energy?
● Work/energy problem with friction
● Power
● What is power?

HALLIDAY |​​ Chapters 7 & 8

KLEPPNER |​​ Chapters 4 & 5

WALTER LEWIN | MIT 8.01 |​​ Lecture 11

Work​​. The action of a force over a distance. When a force acts upon an object to cause a
displacement of the object, it is said that work was done upon the object.

W = F · dcosθ

where F is the force, d is the displacement, and the angle (θ) is defined as the angle
between the force and the displacement vector.

The unit of work is the joule (J), where [J] = [N · m] . The unit is named after an English
physicist named James Joule (1818-1889). Work is closely related to energy.

Energy.​​ The ability to do work. There are many forms of energy, but its unit is the Joule
(like work).

Kinetic energy.​​ Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, or the energy that a body possesses
from being in motion.
KE is written as:
K E = 12 mv 2
where m is the mass and v is the velocity.

Work-energy theorem.​​ The work done by the net force acting on a particle equals
the change in the kinetic energy of the particle.

W = ΔKE = 12 m(v f2 − v2i )

Potential energy. ​The energy that a body possesses due to its position relative to other
objects.

Gravitational potential energy. ​ The energy an object possesses because of its

position in a gravitational field.

GP E = mgh

where m is the mass of the object, g is the gravitational acceleration, and h is the
height relative to the assigned 0 position.
 Spring potential energy.​​ The potential energy stored as a result of deformation of
an elastic object, such as the stretching of a spring. The spring potential energy is
equal to the work done to stretch the spring.

S P E = 12 kx2

where k is the spring constant and x is the distance by which the spring is stretched.

Conservation of energy. ​The total energy of an isolated system remains constant. If

nothing does work on a system or the system does not do work, then the total mechanical
energy will stay the same.

T M E i = T M E f when W = 0
mv2i mv2f
2
+ mghi = 2
+ mghf

Power.​​ The rate at which work is done. Given by P = Wt , where W is work (J) and t is time
(s).
The unit of power is the watt (W), where [W] = [J/s]. Power can also be written another
way, as follows:

P = Wt = Ft·d
P =F ·v
Problem 1 (F=ma, 2018A).​​ A spring stretched to double its unstretched length has a
potential energy U​0​. If the spring is cut in half, and each half spring is stretched to double its
unstretched length, then find an expression for the total potential energy stored in the two
half springs.

Solution. ​First let’s write an expression for U​0​.

U 0 = 12 kx2 .
The spring was cut in half, changing the spring constant; the spring constant is inversely
proportional to its length. Then, the new spring constant of each of the halves is now
double the original.
k ⇒ 2k .
The spring was originally stretched a length x (according to the expression for U​0​), meaning
the length of the spring at equilibrium was x. The halves of the spring are each x/2 in
length, so they are stretched x/2.
Then the SPE of the two springs combined is
U f = 2[ 12 · 2k · ( 2x )2 ] ⇒ U f = 12 kx2
Meaning that U f = U 0 .

Problem 2 (F=ma, 2017).​​ ​ ​A train, originally of mass M, is traveling on a frictionless

straight horizontal track with constant speed v. Snow starts to fall vertically and sticks to
the train at a rate of ρ, where ρ has units of kilograms per second. The train’s engine
keeps the train moving at constant speed v as snow accumulates on the train. Find an
expression for the rate at which the kinetic energy of the train and snow increases.

Solution.​​ As the train is moving along the track, ρ kilograms of snow stick to the train
every second. So, the mass of the train (and snow) system is changing. First let’s write the
expression for the kinetic energy.
K E = 12 (M + m)v 2
where m is the mass of the accumulated snow. m is changing, however, with each passing
second.
To find the rate of change of the kinetic energy, we could take the derivative of the
expression (related rates problem).
dKE d( 12 M v 2 + 12 mv 2 )
dt
= dt
⇒ r = 12 v 2 dm
dt
dm
dt
=ρ
1
r = 2 ρv 2 .
If you have not yet learned calculus yet, you could also express the change in KE as ΔKE
and solve for ΔKE
Δt
. Intuitively, the kinetic energy of the train itself does not change, but the
 Δm
kinetic energy of the accumulated snow does change. Using this logic, you will find that Δt
is the same as 𝜌 and get the same result.

Problem 3 (F=ma, 2016).​​ A small ball of mass 3m is at rest on the ground. A second small
ball of mass m is positioned above the ground by a vertical massless rod of length L that is
also attached to the ball on the ground. The original orientation of the rod is directly
vertical, and the top ball is given a small horizontal nudge. There is no friction; assume that
everything happens in a single plane. Determine the speed v of the second (originally top)
ball just before it hits the ground.

Solution.​​ Conservation of energy problem. Originally, the ball on top of the rod has a
potential energy of mgL, but just before it hits the ground, all of that has become kinetic
energy.
1
2
mv 2 = mgL
v = √2gL

Surprisingly this question was pretty easy (and it was number 22 on the exam)!

Problem 4 (F=ma, 2013).​​ A light car and a heavy truck have the same momentum
(ρ = mv) . The truck weighs ten times as much as the car. How do their kinetic energies
compare?

Solution.​​ Momentum is defined as mv. Since both the truck and the car have the same
momentum, but the truck weighs ten times as much as the car, the velocity of the car is ten
times as much as the trucks. Then, K E = 12 mv 2 and we can write the ratio of the KE of the
truck to the KE of the car.

KE truck 1
KE car
= 10

We can see that the kinetic energy of the car is ten times as much as the truck’s.

Problem 5 (F=ma, 2011). ​A vertical mass-spring oscillator is displaced 2.0 cm from

equilibrium. The 100 g mass passes through the equilibrium point with a speed of 0.75
m/s. What is the spring constant of the spring?

Solution.​​ At equilibrium, all of the energy is kinetic energy. All of the kinetic energy is
converted to spring potential energy as the mass is displaced 2.0 cm from equilibrium, or
0.02 m.
mv 2 kx2 mv 2 N
2
= 2
⇒k= x2
= 140 m
.