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Conservative Forces,
Non-Conservative Forces,
and Collisions

-KARTIK KHATRI
XI-A1
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Conservation of Energy

1. M u lti-d im e n s io n a l fo rm o f w o rk in te g ra l:

x f
 
W  

x
F dx
i

2. C o n s e rv a tiv e fo rc e = w o rk d o e s n ’t d e p e n d o n p a th .
3. P o te n tia l E n e rg y d e fin e d fo r a c o n s e rv a tiv e fo rc e :
A
 
U (A )    F d x
0
4. G ra v ity : U g  m g (y  y 0)  m g h
5. S p rin g : Us  12 k ( x  x 0 ) 2
6. C o n s e rv a tio n o f e n e rg y if o n ly c o n s e rv a tiv e fo rc e s o p e ra te :
 K   U or | K   U  0 |
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Conservative Forces
Non-Conservative Forces

Examples of Conservative Forces:

 Gravity
 Ideal Spring (Hooke’s Law)
 Electrostatic Force (later in Physics 1)

Examples of Non-Conservative Forces:

 Human Pushes and Pulls
 Friction
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Is Mechanical Energy Always
Conserved?

T o ta l M e c h a n ic a l E n e r g y
E  K  U
 E   K   U  0 if o n ly c o n s e rv a tiv e fo rc e s a c t
W h e n N o n -C o n s e r v a tiv e F o r c e s A c t
 E   K   U  W non  cons

T h is is e q u iv a le n t to
K f  U f  K i  U i  W non  cons

N o n -c o n s e rv a tiv e fo rc e s a d d (+ ) o r s u b tra c t (– ) e n e rg y .
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Elastic and Inelastic Collisions

Momentum is conserved in a collision process because only internal

forces are acting. External forces are considered separately.

In many collisions a large percentage of the kinetic energy is lost.

These are known as inelastic collisions. For example, any collision
in which two objects stick together is always inelastic.

If the kinetic energy after a collision is the same as before, then we

have an elastic collision. During the collision process, some of the
kinetic energy can convert to potential energy of various kinds, but
after the collision is over all of the kinetic energy is restored.
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