Energy Notes 2014

Bialik Physics Unit 2 2014 Work and Energy 1 of 14
The amount of energy transferred is called

work. The body losing energy does work,
the body gaining energy has work done on
it.

Work = Force displacement

Work is a scalar quantity,
The unit of Work is the Joule.
Work can also be expressed in units of
power time, this is the origin of the unit
kilowatt hours. Often the energy being
used is converted into heat energy.

**Power is the rate of doing work, and
therefore the rate of increase of
energy. The average power, P, is the
total work done divided by the total
time interval. P = = = Fv
if the change in velocity is not from
zero, then P
supplied
= F
Power is a scalar quantity with the
units of Joule sec
-1
or Watt.

** Not strictly on the course, but can be
a useful idea.
A joule is the amount of work done
when a force of 1 Newton acts through
a distance of 1 metre.

Work and Energy

Introduction
.
Energy exists in many different forms, for example Kinetic Energy, Gravitational Potential Energy,
Electrical Energy, Elastic Potential Energy. A fundamental principle of nature is that energy cannot
be created or destroyed, only transformed or transferred to another body. A body that has energy
may transfer some, or all, of its energy to another body. The total amount of energy remains
constant (conserved), even if it has been transformed to another type of energy. For example,
during a car crash, the car originally has kinetic energy. After the collision it will have less kinetic
energy than it began with. The lost kinetic energy will have been transferred to sound energy, heat
energy or energy of deformation.

Energy, Work and Power

Losing energy
Energy can also be transformed into heat. Any time there is friction, energy is being transformed in
heat energy. Examples would be if you were to rub your hands together they will get warm, you are
applying a frictional force over the distance of your hand and the work that is done is transforming
into heat energy.

Law of Conservation of Energy
Whenever work is done, energy is transformed from one form to another. E.g. a ball falling from a
height, the Potential Energy is converted into Kinetic Energy. When the ball bounces the kinetic
energy is transferred back into potential energy. Even though there is no energy lost in this
situation, it does not mean that the ball should keep bouncing forever. The potential energy being
transformed into kinetic energy, then when it bounces most of the kinetic energy is transformed
into potential energy, whilst some of the kinetic energy is transformed into heat energy. Still the
amount of energy remains the same. Thus the energy is conserved. This leads to an interesting
phenomenon, that the amount of energy in the whole universe is the same amount that was here
when the universe started; it is just in another form.


Elastic collisions
If the collision is elastic, then both
momentum and energy is
conserved in the collision.
E
final
= E
initial
and p
final
= p
initial

Inelastic collisions
If the collision is inelastic, momentum
is conserved, but some energy is lost
to the environment. The energy that is
lost to the environment is usually
transformed into heat energy, sound
energy and energy of deformation.
p
final
= p
initial
but E
initial
> E
final

Kinetic Energy (KE) is the energy a body
possesses due to its motion. This will be
equal to the work done by a force, F, on a
mass, m, to give it from rest a velocity, v, over
a displacement, x.
v
2
= u
2
+ 2ax, but u = 0.
v
2
= 2 a x = 2 x
mv
2
= F x
F x is the work done and mv
2
is the kinetic
energy gained by the body. So KE = mv
2
.
The work done on a body is equal to the
change in KE of a body, so
WD = = mv
2
- mu
2

Potential Energy (PE), (U), is the
energy possessed by a body due to:
Its state (elastic potential energy)

e.g. a compressed spring, or

Its position (gravitational potential

energy) e.g. a raised mass.

Gravitational Potential Energy. When
changes in height 'h' are small
compared to the radius of the earth, the
potential energy U
g
of a body near the
earth's surface is given by U
g
= mgh.

Types of Energy

Efficiency of Energy Conversions.

In most real life situations when energy is transferred from one object to another, not all of the
energy is transferred in a useful form. Some of the energy is turned into types of energy that are
not desired, such as heat, sound or light. The efficiency of the energy transfer is a measurement of
how much of the energy is transferred to the desired form of energy.
% Efficiency =
Final energy
Initial energy

100
%
1

Collisions

Energy and Graphs

The area under a force-displacement graph shows the work done. If the force is constant then the
area under the graph is given by W = F d where F is the force, d is the distance over which the
force acts. This is just the familiar work formula. If the force is not constant then the area under the
graph must be determined.

This assumes that the force and the displacement are in the same direction. If they aren't then the
work is the product of the resolved part of the force (in the direction of motion) the displacement.


A delivery van of mass 1200 kg, travelling south at 20 m s
1
, collides head-on with a power pole.
The impact crushes the crumple zone of the van by 0.60 m bringing the van to rest against the
pole.

Example 1 2004 Question 4 (3 marks)
Calculate the average force that the pole exerts on the van.

A car is on top of a hill at X, h metres above the top of a cliff. The top of the cliff is H metres above
the water level. The brakes are released and the car begins to roll back down the hill. When the car
reaches the cliff at Y it is projected horizontally and travels a horizontal distance, d metres, from
the cliff edge. It enters the water at Z.
Take the acceleration due to gravity as g downwards. (For the following questions, ignore air
resistance.)

Which of the expressions (A D) gives the speed of the car at point Y?
A. 2gh
B. 2gH
C. 2g(H+h)
D. 2g(H- h)


Jo is riding on a roller-coaster at a fun fair. Part of the structure is shown below

When Jo is at X her velocity is 10 ms
-1
in a horizontal direction, and at Y it is 24 ms
-1
in a horizontal
direction.

What is the height difference (h) between points X and Y? Assume that friction and air resistance
are negligible.

Example 4 1981 Question 20
A heavy ball on the end of a string of length r is raised to a horizontal position and then released.
Its speed at the lowest point of its path will be equal to
A. gr

B. 2gr C. 2gr D.
gr
2


A particle of mass m, travelling south-east at constant speed v, hits a wall and then travels north-
east at the same speed v.

Example 5 1980 Question 16 (1 mark)
How much work has been done on the particle by the wall?

The acceleration of the particle while it is in contact with the wall is
A. zero
B. towards the east
C. towards the west
D. towards the north
E. changing from south-east to north-east


The diagram below shows a section of a roller coaster track. The roller coaster car is travelling at
constant speed towards the right.

Which of the graphs (AE) best shows the gravitational potential energy of the roller coaster car
against the horizontal distance from the start of the track?

Which of the graphs (AE) best shows the kinetic energy of the roller coaster car against the
horizontal distance from the start of the track? (Neglect frictional effects.)

Which of the graphs (A E) best shows the total energy of the roller coaster car against the
horizontal distance from the start of the track? (Neglect frictional effects.)


In a braking test a car of mass 1000kg was travelling down a hill on a straight road which has a
constant slope of 1 in 10 as shown in the diagram.
The car was travelling at 20m/s at A where a constant braking force was applied so that the car
came to a stop at B, 100m from A.

What is the kinetic energy of the car at A?

What is the change in gravitational potential energy of the car in going from A to B?

What is the magnitude of the constant braking force acting on the car as it moved from A to B?


The graph above gives the velocity-time relationship for a block of mass 4.0 kg which slides across
a rough, horizontal floor, coming to rest after 1.0 sec.

What is the magnitude of the frictional force of the floor on the block?

What is the magnitude of the frictional force of the block on the floor?

What distance did the block travel in the 1.0 s time interval?

What was the work done on the block by the floor?


A box of mass 20 kg is pulled 3.0 m along a rough floor with a force of 100N. The friction force
acting on the box is a constant 30 N.

What is the change in kinetic energy of the box?

Two blocks, X and Y, are at points P and R as shown in the diagram, which is not to scale.

X and Y are initially at rest at the positions shown in the diagram.

What is the difference between the potential energy of block X and the potential energy of block Y,
when they are in their initial positions?

X is released and slides down the slope to PQ
Throughout the surface PQRS, a constant friction force of 1.0 N acts on X and Y when they are
moving.
How much work is done against friction as block X slides down PQ?

What is the kinetic energy of block X as it reaches point R?


If the collision between X and Y is elastic, what is the kinetic energy of block Y as it leaves point R?

If S is the point at which block Y comes to rest, what is the distance RS?

The kinetic energy of the two blocks at the end of their motions is zero, i.e. it is less than the initial
potential energy of block X. Which of the following statements provides the best explanation for
this?
A. Energy is not conserved in this situation.
B. The potential energy of block X has been transformed into forms of energy other than
kinetic energy of the blocks.
C. Potential energy is never conserved.
D. Potential energy has been lost because the collision between X and Y was elastic.

A trolley of mass 2.2 kg is placed on a track which has a slight downhill gradient. A small frictional
force acts on the trolley.

The trolley is given an initial push and after 2.5 sec reaches O. Here it encounters a steep uphill
track, and come to rest momentarily, at X.

The speed time relation for the trolley over the first 2.5 sec is shown below.

What is the net force acting on the trolley during the first 2.5 sec?


How much work was done by the trolley over the distance OX?

Friction over the distance OX is negligible. What is the vertical height of X above O?

The graph represents the velocity-time relation for a block of mass 0.20 kg. The block was given
an initial push (at time t = 0), slid across the floor and came to rest.

How much work was done in bringing the block to rest?

What was the frictional force of the floor on the block?

What distance did the block travel in the 0.80 sec time interval?

Unit 3 Physics 2012 Bialik College Page 12 of 14

Solutions
As the crumple distance is given in the
question, you know,
m = 1200 kg, u = 20 m/s, v = 0 m/s, x = 0.6 m
and F = ?.
Use WD = F x d = KE.
F x 0.6 = mv
2
mu
2

F x 0.6 = - x 1200 x 20
2

F =
2
1
2
120020
0.6

F = 4 x 10
5
N (ANS)

Examiners comment (1.7/3)
This question could be addressed by either
impulse-momentum or work-energy. The fact
that the crumple distance was stated in the
question meant that the work-energy approach
was simpler.

The total energy at X will be the same as the
total energy at Y, since there is no friction
acting.
Lets take PE to be zero at Y
At Y
TE = mv
2

At X
TE = mgh
mv
2
= mgh
v
2
= 2gh
v 2gh
A (ANS)

The average score for Question 12 indicates a
satisfactory understanding of the conversion of
gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy.

Example 3 2000 Solution Q14
This question is based on the conservation of
energy.
2
1
top 2
E = mv +mgh
Subbing in the values we know
2
1
top 2
E = m10 +m10h
And we do the same for the energy at the
bottom
2
1
bottom 2
E = mv
Subbing in the values we know
2
1
bottom 2
E = m24
The energy is conserved; therefore the energy
Jo has at the top will equal the energy Jo has
at the bottom. So we can write;
bottom top
E =E
2 2
1 1
2 2
m24 = m10 +m10h
because m is present in all part of the
equation we can take it out as a common
factor.

2 2
1 1
2 2
m 24 =m 10 +10h the mass will
now cancel on both sides.

2 2
1 1
2 2
24 = 10 +10h
10
2 2
1 1
2 2
24 - 10
h =
h = 23.8 m (ANS)

Examiners comment Q14 (1.35/3)
With friction and air resistance forces being
ignored, the gain in kinetic energy equals the
loss in gravitational potential energy. Thus,
when the energy equation was set-up and
values for the initial and final speeds
substituted, the height was calculated. The
average score indicated that most students
experienced some difficulty with this concept.
The most common error was in neglecting Jos
initial kinetic energy.

Example 4 1981 Solution Q 20
At the lowest point the PE it has gained by
being raised has transformed into KE.
mgh = mv
2

gr = v
2

v
2
= 2gr
v = 2gr
C (ANS)

WD = KE.
In this case the final speed is the same as the
initial speed.
V = 0
KE = 0
WD = 0 J (ANS)

Example 6 1980Solution Q17
The acceleration is in the direction of the
change in velocity.
The change in velocity is given by
FINAL - INITIAL
In this case this will be perpendicularly up.

D (ANS)
The other way of considering this question is to
think about is: where is this force coming from.
The only force acting (to change the direction of
the ball) is the force of the wall on the ball. The
wall can only provide a normal reaction force.
Hence this force is in a northerly direction.

Gravitational energy is given by mgh. The
graph will have the same shape as the track,
because mg is constant, with h being the only
variable.
A (ANS)

This question was well answered.

There isnt any energy being supplied (or lost)
by the roller coaster.
the total energy should remain constant. This
means that when the roller coaster loses PE it
must gain KE.
the KE graph must be such that when you
add it to the PE graph you get a constant value.
B (ANS)

The requirements of this question were well
understood by most students.

See the explanation for Question 8.
E (ANS)

This question was well understood.

The KE of the car = mv
2

KE = x 1000 x 20
2

= 2.0 x 10
5
J (ANS)

Change in potential energy is given by mgh.
PE = mgh
= 1000 x 10 x 10
= 1.0 x 10
5
J (ANS)

The work done by the braking force is given by
WD = F x d, where F is the braking force, and
d is the distance it acts.
In this case the work needs to stop the car at B,
so it needs to overcome the initial KE as well as
the gain in PE (from rolling down the slope).
The total energy the work done needs to
overcome is
KE(2.0 x 10
5
) + PE(1.0 x 10
5
) = 3.0 x 10
5
J
F x 100 = 3.0 x 10
5

F = 3.0 x 10
3
N (ANS)

Use F = ma
The gradient of the v-t graph is the
acceleration.
F = ma
= 4 x
v
t

= 4 x
5
1

= 20 N (ANS)

Example 14 1986 solution Q2
From Newtons third Law, F
A on B
= F
B on A
.
This is an example of the third law.
20 N (ANS)

The distance travelled is the area under the
velocity-time graph.
d = x 5 x 1
= 2.5 m (ANS)

WD = F x d
= 20 x 2.5
= 50 J (ANS)
WD = KE
= x 4 x 5
2
x 4 x 0
2

= 50 J (ANS)

The change in KE is the same as the work
done on the box.
You must use the net force to calculate the
work done.
WD = F x d
= (100 30) x 3
= 210 J (ANS)


Gravitational PE = mgh.
PE = mgh
= 0.5 x 10 x 2
= 10J (ANS)

WD = F x d
= 1 x 4
= 4J (ANS)

Block X needs to travel 5 m to Block Y.
it will lose 5J of energy overcoming the
frictional force.
Block X starts with 10J at P therefore it will
have 10 5 = 5J at R.
5 J (ANS)

If the collision is elastic, then Block X will be
stationary and block Y will have all the energy.
5 J (ANS)

The work done is given by WD = Fd, where the
force acting is the frictional force (1.0 N).
WD = 5
= f x d
= 1 x d
d = 5m (ANS)

The potential energy has been lost overcoming
the frictional force.
B (ANS)

From the graph, the speed is constant over the
first 2.5 secs.
acc = 0
F = 0 (ANS)

The work done is equal to the loss of KE of the
trolley.
At O, the trolley had a KE = mv
2

= x 2.2 x 3.0
2

= 9.9 J
At point X the trolley came to rest, therefore it
had lost all of its KE.
9.9 J (ANS)

Since friction was negligible all the KE has
been converted into PE
gravitational
.
9.9 = mgh
h =
9.9
2.2 10

= 0.45 m (ANS)

WD = KE.
From the graph, initial speed was 4.0 ms
1
and
the final speed was 0.
KE = mv
2

= x 0.2 x 4.0
2

= 1.6 J (ANS)

The force is given by F = ma.
From the graph the acceleration is the gradient
of the graph =
4
0.8
= 5
F = 0.2 x 5
= 1.0 N (ANS)

Over the 0.8 sec time interval, the block came
to rest.
The distance travelled is given by the area
under the graph.
d = x 4 x 0.8
= 1.6 m.

This can also be solved using, WD = KE
1.6 = 1.0 x d
d = 1.6 m (ANS)

Energy Notes 2014

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Energy Notes 2014

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Bialik Physics Unit 2 2014 Work and Energy 1 of 14

The amount of energy transferred is called

Its state (elastic potential energy)

Its position (gravitational potential

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