Question
Question: Draw the variation of potential energy, kinetic energy and total energy of a body falling freely?...
Draw the variation of potential energy, kinetic energy and total energy of a body falling freely?
Solution
In this question the concept of conservation of energy that is the total energy of any system remains converted as per energy conservation law that is irrespective of the variation of kinetic and potential energy the sum of the two remains constant.
Complete step by step answer:
The potential energy is the energy which a body possesses due to height and kinetic energy is the energy possessed by a body when it is moving with a certain velocity v. So, to depict this variation of energies, let us suppose a body is at height h and apply conversion of gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy. When a body is falling from the height defined, firstly, its kinetic energy increases as the body is moving continuously with a velocity. But one can observe that this gain in kinetic energy is at the expense of potential energy. As shown in the figure below the total energy remains conserved. The potential energy on a body is due to its position and kinetic energy is due to velocity of a body as it is clearly visible in the figure below:
Note: The statement that energy can never be created nor destroyed is appropriate because it changes from one form to another as it can be seen in the above figure that when the kinetic energy is maximum then the potential energy is zero and vice-versa.