Kinetic Energy

Kinetic is extracted from potential energy - is this a specific process and can this be actually proven?

Also in one of the lectures it was noted that kinetic energy can be too large - how is this determined? is it by numerical, sensation, response or by observation?

Bernadette

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Not sure what you mean by kinetic energy being too large. On kinetic energy being extracted from potential energy, see lectures. On “proven”: I’ve talked in lectures and tutorials about why philosophers of science don’t usually talk about theories being “proved” or “disproved”. If you want to use that terminology anyway then that’s fine, but you should explain what you mean by it and why you disagree with the lectures.

Jason

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Kinetic Energy is not defined by potential energy. Potential energy is the Work of a Force may do on a particle due to its position in the field of the force. The Work Energy Theorem states that Work is equal to the change in Kinetic energy (It is quite a basic derivation if you understand a little calculus. We define work to be Force*delta x where delta x is the distance over which the force occurs. From this simple definition we can use calculus to show that total work over an interval is equal to the change in a quantity (1/2mv^2) which we now define as kinetic energy.

If we are now discussing force fields, then we may derive the law of conservation of mechanical energy from the work energy theorem. Mechanical energy is K.E+P.E.

Remember, energy is not some magical glowing stuff, it is simply defined as the quantity of work which may be done on an entity.

-Paul Rosenthal.

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