- #1
NikhilRGS
- 5
- 0
Is potential energy gained or lost only in a conservative field, or when work is done against or by conservative forces?
NikhilRGS said:Is it totally safe and correct to say that there is no potential energy gained by a body when work is done on it against a non conservative force.
No. To be safe, avoid the term "potential energy" when dealing with non conservative forces.NikhilRGS said:Thank you.
Is it totally safe and correct to say that there is no potential energy gained by a body when work is done on it against a non conservative force.
Given that the force of friction is always directed opposite to the displacement of an object, the work done ##\textit{by}## the object on the surroundings will always be positive (or equivalently, the work done ##\textit{on}## the object will always be negative). Thus as long as no extra external force is acting on the object, it will gradually slow down as energy is being transferred to the surroundings in the form of heat and the surroundings temperature is raised. So because the force of friction is always directed opposite to displacement, the work done in a round trip can never be zero. This holds for any closed curve which has at least one point with non-vanishing force of friction, i.e. the only way the work done can be zero is if the force of friction along the closed curve vanishes at every point along the curve.NikhilRGS said:Can the work done by a non conservative force like friction 'in a round trip' ever be zero?
Actually the question is a little poorly formulated.NikhilRGS said:Is potential energy gained or lost only in a conservative field, or when work is done against or by conservative forces?
A Conservative Field is a type of vector field in which the work done by the force moving an object from one point to another is independent of the path taken. In other words, the potential energy of an object in a Conservative Field is only dependent on its position and not on the path it takes to get there.
Potential energy is acquired in a Conservative Field through the force of gravity or any other conservative force that acts on an object. As an object moves in a Conservative Field, it gains or loses potential energy depending on its position.
No, potential energy can only be acquired in a Conservative Field. In a Non-Conservative Field, the work done by the force is dependent on the path taken, making potential energy dependent on the path as well.
An example of a Conservative Field is the force of gravity. As an object moves closer to the Earth, it gains potential energy due to its position in the Earth's gravitational field. The work done by gravity is independent of the path taken, making it a Conservative Field.
Understanding Conservative Fields and their relationship to potential energy is crucial in many fields of science, such as physics and engineering. It allows us to accurately predict and calculate the potential energy of an object in a given position, which can be essential in designing and building structures or machines that rely on potential energy for stability or movement.