Name: Gravitational Potential Energy
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 9 min 10 s
Description: The energy possessed by a body because of its position in a gravitational field is known as Gravitational Potential Energy. Let’s learn about it in detail in...

Question

What do you mean by conservation of mechanical energy? Give examples.

Accepted Answer

The principle of conservation of mechanical energy states that the total mechanical energy of an isolated body is always conserved. The mechanical energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy of a body at any instant of time during its motion or at rest. When a body is moving under the influence of conservative forces like gravity in an isolated system, its mechanical energy remains constant.

The example of conservation of mechanical energy is a swinging of simple pendulum. When a pendulum swings about its mean position, it has maximum potential energy at the extreme position due to the height gained during the motion. As it swings back towards its mean position, its potential energy decreases and gets converted into kinetic energy and kinetic energy increases. At the mean position, it achieves the maximum velocity as total potential energy got converted into kinetic energy and so the kinetic energy becomes maximum. Here, the potential energy becomes minimum or zero. Therefore, the total mechanical energy of a pendulum always remains constant at any instant of time during its motion hence we say the total energy is conserved.

What do you mean by conservation of mechanical energy? Give examples.

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