Potential energy. Announcements:

Announcements: Created a new column in D2L for sum of scores from First Midterm Will change the way Clicker Questions are written out in Lecture notes. Finish Chapter 8 and Cover material in Chap. 9 Advertise LA program Potential energy Web page http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys1110/phys1110_sp12/

Sum of Midterm Grades

Come to the LA Info Session to learn more about becoming a Learning Assistant. When: Monday, March 5, 2012, at 6 p.m. Where: UMC 235 (hall right of Reception Desk) RSVP: By March 1 st to laprogram@colorado.edu Refreshments will be served, while they last. Applications for Fall 2012 available March 5 19 Goto: https://laprogram.colorado.edu/applications Get more information from faculty and LAs in these departments: Applied Math Math MCDBiology EBIO Education Chemistry Physics Astronomy ATOC Mech Engineering

Potential energy We have found that the work due to gravity is where y 1 is the initial height and y 2 is the final height. One more rule about conservative forces is that we can define a quantity called potential energy for them. We define gravitational potential energy as. With this definition: If gravity is the only force contributing to the work then and so by the work energy theorem we arrive at

Potential energy which can be written We further define the total mechanical energy of the system as Then the above equation is simply Since points 1 and 2 are arbitrary what we are really saying is that E is constant no matter where we are. So long as gravity is the only force acting, E is constant. This is an example of the conservation of mechanical energy.

2.5 m The power of conservation of energy Initial energy: Final energy: Conservation of energy: A block starts at rest at a height of 2.5 m and slides down a frictionless inclined plane. What is the block velocity when it reaches the bottom? If energy is conserved you don t need to know how a particle gets from one place to another. If you can determine the energy at one place then you know it at any other place.

Clicker question 1 Set frequency to BA A marble rolls down a frictionless track, and reaches speed v at the bottom. If you want it to reach a speed of 4v at the bottom, you need the start of the new track to be A: twice as high B: 4 times as high C: half as high D: 16 times as high E: (need more information) as the original track height.

Clicker question 2 Set frequency to BA A hockey puck slides without friction along a frozen lake toward an ice ramp and plateau as shown. The speed of the puck is 4 m/s and the height of the plateau is 1 m. Will the puck make it all the way up the ramp? A. yes v = 4 m/s h = 1 m B. no C. impossible to tell without knowing the mass The minimum speed needed to make it to the top is when it arrives at the top at rest (no kinetic energy). Conservation of energy: Initial speed must be or greater to make it to the top. But

Clicker question 3 Set frequency to BA A pendulum is launched in two different ways. During both launches, the bob has an initial speed of 3.0 m/s. On launch 1, the speed is up (along the trajectory). On launch 2, the speed is down (along the trajectory). Which launch will cause the pendulum to swing the largest angle from the equilibrium position on the left side? A: Launch 1 B: Launch 2 C: Both launches give the same max displacement. Conservation of energy says KE(init) is what matters in determining the height. Squaring the v means sign doesn't matter. If you swing it with v1, it'll go up and come back, and when it reaches its starting point again it'll have v2=-v1. Either way, it makes it just as far on the left side. (Barring frictional losses)

Clicker question 4 Set frequency to BA A mass m is at the end of light (massless) rod of length R, the other end of which has a frictionless pivot so the rod can swing in a vertical plane. The rod is initially horizontal and the mass is pushed down with an initial speed vo. What initial kinetic energy is required for the mass to pivot 270 o (to the vertical, or "12 o'clock" position?) 1 2 mv 2 = A: mgr B: mg*(2r) C: mg*(3r) D: 0 E: None of these o

More about gravitational potential energy If gravity is the only force doing work, conservation of energy means Note that the y=0 point is arbitrary (but must be the same reference point for all points). This has some consequences: 1. Gravitational potential energy can be positive or negative. 2. Only differences in gravitational potential energy are physically meaningful.

Clicker question 5 A small mass, starting at rest, slides without friction down a loop-de-loop as shown. The maximum height of the loop is the same as the initial height of the mass. Will the ball make it to the top of the loop? A: Yes, the ball makes it to the top of the loop. B: No, the ball will not make it to the top. C: Not enough info to say, or don't know. Set frequency to BA This is subtle! It has enough energy to make it to the top, but as it climbs the loop, its velocity will slow, and it will come to a point when it falls off the loop. (At the peak of its trajectory, will it be at its original height?) No! At the top of the trajectory, it still has an "x-component" of velocity, i.e. some KE, which takes away from PE. Basically, its energy is never fully converted into pure PE - some of it will still be KE.

What about forces other than gravity? The spring force The force applied to the spring is force by the spring is is also a conservative force while the Note that the x=0 point is not arbitrary; the x=0 point is when the spring is in the relaxed position relaxed spring no force applied extended spring displacement and applied force to the right

Work by a spring The work done by a spring is This is true for positive or negative x 1 and x 2. A spring starts at x = 0 Spring is extended to position x 2 so force by spring is opposite the motion and so work is negative: Then the spring is moved from x 2 to x 2 and the positive work from x 2 to 0 is canceled by the negative work from 0 to x 2 :

Elastic potential energy The potential energy from a spring is Remember x is the distance from the relaxed position This potential energy is always 0 and is physically meaningful by itself (unlike gravitational potential energy) The combined conservation of mechanical energy equation is valid when only gravitational and elastic forces do work: or simply

Using conservation of energy A spring loaded gun with spring constant of 5000 N/m is used to fire a 0.01 kg BB off a 100 m cliff. The spring is compressed 0.1 m before launch. Assuming no air resistance, what is the speed of the BB just before it hits the ground? Use conservation of energy to find the kinetic energy at impact We choose to set y=0 at the base of the cliff Initial energy: Final energy: By conservation of energy:

Using conservation of energy A spring loaded gun with spring constant of 5000 N/m is used to fire a 0.01 kg BB off a 100 m cliff. The spring is compressed 0.1 m before launch. Assuming no air resistance, what is the speed of the BB just before it hits the ground? What if we pick the y=0 point at the top of the cliff? Initial energy: Final energy: Energy conservation:

Clicker question 6 Set frequency to BA A spring-loaded dart gun shoots a dart straight up into the air, and the dart reaches a height of 24 m. The same dart is shot straight up a second time from the same gun, but this time the spring is compressed only half as far before firing. How far up does the dart go this time, neglecting friction and assuming an ideal spring? A. 3 m B. 6 m C. 12 m D. 24 m E. 48 m Before the dart is launched and when it reaches the maximum height the kinetic energy is 0 Initial energy: Final energy: By conservation of energy, E 1 = E 2 If x is reduced by a factor of 2, h will be reduced a factor of 4