3.2

Jump to Book Cover

Previous Page

Next Page

Videos: Conservation of energy Elastic potential energy Elastic potential energy in your bicep and tricep muscles Energy and work Gravitational potential energy Kinetic energy Physics of wind power Solar flare is a plasma in motion Steam rising out of cooling tower at a nuclear power plant

Investigations: 3A: Work and the force vs. distance graph (p. 113) 3B: Inclined plane and the conservation of energy (p. 118) 3C: Work and energy for launching a paper airplane (p. 122) 3D: Springs and the conservation of energy (p. 124) 3E: Conservation of momentum (p. 128) 3F: Collisions (p. 132) 3G: Shock absorbers and dampers (p. 139) 3H: Specific heat of water and steel (p. 144)

Science: Algebra derivation using the conservation of energy Brownian motion Choosing origin for potential energy reference frame Difference between heat and temperature Einstein's theory of relativity Elastic potential energy Elastic potential energy in your muscles Elastic potential energy in your muscles Energy and power for light bulb Energy and work Energy content of phases of matter Energy flow in open and closed systems Faster than light travel? Forms of energy Friction Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa Gravitational potential energy Hooke's Law for springs Intensity of sunlight at Earth's surface Kelvin temperature scale and absolute zero Kinetic energy Law of conservation of energy Loose springs and stiff springs (BLM) Ordered and random kinetic energy Other conservation laws in physics Plasma in motion during a solar flare Plasma is a phase of matter Potential energy Power and radiant energy Power is the rate of doing work Radiant energy Relationship between momentum conservation and Newton's third law Symmetry in the physics of collisions Units of work and energy van der Waals forces

Technology: Batteries and electrical power Calories on food labels Conserving energy in everyday life Converting units and understanding energy content from food Efficiency in technology Energy content of everyday goods Energy flow in clothing manufacture Energy transformations in an internal combustion (piston) engine Energy transformations in technology usually produce heat Everyday objects that store energy Everyday technology in our age of energy Friction from brake pads in a car's wheel Hydroelectric dam Objects with elastic potential energy Power in everyday technology Power, wattage, and the light bulb Radiant power and the light bulb Technology and agriculture over the last century

Engineering: Calculating energy production for the Hoover Dam Design a wind turbine power plant Efficiency Electric current Electromagnetic spectrum Open and closed systems Siting constraint for power plants Specific heat Springs Volts, amps, and power

Mathematics: Algebra derivation using the conservation of energy Calculating energy production for the Hoover Dam Changes in a quantity represented by Greek symbol Δ Choosing origin for potential energy reference frame Converting units and understanding energy content from food Deducing a physical equation Different rates of change Hooke's Law for springs Non-linear relationships Proportional relationships Using algebra to derive temperature conversion formula Using algebra to solve for a variable

Interactive Simulations Interactive simulation of motion down an inclined plane Motion down an inclined plane Interactive simulation of an oscillating spring Spring-loaded carts simulation Elastic collisions between two balls Inelastic collisions between two balls Interactive simulation of an oscillating spring Interactive simulation of an oscillating spring Wind power design simulation Interactive Calculators Work equation calculator Kinetic energy equation Potential energy equation Elastic potential energy equation Efficiency equation Conservation of momentum in collisions equation Power equation calculator
Electric power equation Temperature conversion equation Specific heat equation

1 - Science of Physics
2 - Forces and Motion 3 - Energy Transformations Chapter 3 at a glance 3.1 - Energy 3.2 - Conservation of energy 3.3 - Flow of energy 3.4 - Temperature and the kinetic theory of matter 3.5 - Chapter review4 - Waves and Sound
5 - Electricity and Magnetism
6 - Light and Optics
7 - The Atom
8 - Linear Motion
9 - Vectors and Forces
10 - Forces
11 - Newton's Laws and Gravitation
12 - Circular Motion and Gravitation
13 - Torque and Static Equilibrium
14 - Momentum and Collisions
15 - Angular momentum
16 - Power and Machines
17 - Harmonic Motion
18 - Waves
19 - Sound
20 - Electricity
21 - Electric and Magnetic Fields
22 - Electromagnetism and Induction
23 - Light and Color
24 - Geometrical Optics
25 - Electromagnetic Radiation
26 - The Properties of Matter
27 - Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
28 - The Atom
29 - The Quantum Theory
30 - TBD
31 - TBD
32 - TBD
33 - TBD
34 - TBD
35 - TBD
36 - TBD
37 - The atomic nucleus and radioactivity
38 - Nuclear reactions
39 - Relativity
40 - Particle physics and the standard model
41 - Electronics (semiconductors)
42 - Nuclear technology
43 - Lasers and photonics
44 - Metals, alloys and materials science
45 - Communications technology
46 - Buildings and structures
47 - Energy technology
48 - Biophysics
49 - Matter and Energy, Space and Time
50 - Energy Transformations
51 - Nanotechnology
52 - Website Videos
53 - ExtraStuff
55 - Modeling Motion, Friction, and Center of Mass
56 - Work and the Conservation of Energy

Energy conservation and free falling objects

Example: a falling ball	To illustrate how useful the idea of a closed system is and how to apply the conservation of energy, consider dropping a ball. How fast does it go as it falls?
Mass and free fall	Does a massive object fall faster than a less-massive object? Try this simple experiment: drop a single paper clip and a clump of 10 paper clips from the same height. They hit the floor at the same time, despite one having 10 times the mass of the other. The intuitive sense you have that lighter objects fall slower is not due to mass at all, but comes from air resistance. Drop a marble and a sheet of paper and the lighter paper falls slower than the marble. Now crumple the paper into a ball, which does not change its mass at all, just its shape. Repeat the experiment and the crumpled paper ball and the marble hit the floor at the same time. But why do they fall at the same rate? Light objects fall slower in air because the effect of air resistance is large compared to their weight. A marble also experiences air resistance, but compared to its weight, the force of air resistance on it is much smaller.
Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa	Popular legend holds that Italian scientist Galileo Galilei dropped two balls, one ten times more massive than the other, from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that, in the absence of air resistance, the acceleration of gravity is independent of the mass of the object. Historians dispute that Galileo actually performed this experiment, since only Galileo's secretary claimed in writing that he had done so. Galileo wrote about a similar thought experiment, but there is little evidence that he ever conducted the experiment from the tower. But the legend lives on, and the leaning tower is a popular destination for many tourists—and physicists!
Explaining free fall using conservation of energy	For many centuries scientists thought that less massive objects fell more slowly, because they focused on examples (such as a feather or flat sheet of paper) where they confused the effects of air resistance with that of gravity. Now that we know more about gravity, however, we still want to know why one paperclip and a clump of ten paperclips fall at the same speed. In other words, why does the speed of an object that is in free fall and only subject to the force of gravity not depend on its mass? Answering this question confounded scientists for years, yet we can answer it using the conservation of energy.
Test your knowledge	If you drop a bowling ball and a tennis ball from the same height, which one will hit the ground first?
	They will both hit the ground at the same time, traveling with the same velocity.