- #1
romantichero7
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1. With respect to any oscillating system, what is the difference between ΔPE, PE, and PEaverage?
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Hi all. I want to preface this by saying that we have been discussing the Lennard-Jones potential and particle theory in class recently, after learning spring-mass potential energy dynamics.
So I was thinking, ΔPE is the change in potential energy from some initial point to some final point.. so it is really a measure of CHANGE in the potential to do work...
I was thinking that plain PE is like the instantaneous potential energy at a specific point in the oscillation.. and it is often arbitrary based on where we set our coordinate system.
I struggle with PEaverage because it is not a term we have used in class before; but my attempt is that it is just the mean value of potential energy over some stretch of time.
What do you guys think?
Homework Equations
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The Attempt at a Solution
Hi all. I want to preface this by saying that we have been discussing the Lennard-Jones potential and particle theory in class recently, after learning spring-mass potential energy dynamics.
So I was thinking, ΔPE is the change in potential energy from some initial point to some final point.. so it is really a measure of CHANGE in the potential to do work...
I was thinking that plain PE is like the instantaneous potential energy at a specific point in the oscillation.. and it is often arbitrary based on where we set our coordinate system.
I struggle with PEaverage because it is not a term we have used in class before; but my attempt is that it is just the mean value of potential energy over some stretch of time.
What do you guys think?