Discussion 7: The Law of Conservation of Energy

Please read the document attached. Tell what you liked about each discussion, if you would add anything, and any questions you have about each discussion. Please keep them separate. Also, understand the physics involved.

The law of conservation of energy is one of the most fundamental concepts in physics. It states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, and as well as this the amount of energy found within a system will remain constant, despite changes in the system. The concept is so large, that the closer you look into it the more entangled it gets. It can be related to many different real-life situations because it is without a doubt a huge part of life, and movement in general. In order to complete relate this concept to a situations, let us first review some major concepts. For starters there are many different types of energy; potential, Elastic potential, gravitational potential, and internal energy are just a few. Potential energy is by broad definition, stored energy. Elastic potential energy is when energy is stored within a type of elastic, such as a stretched rubber band, or a blown up balloon. A real life example of this concept would be the potential energy of the blown up balloon is stored within the elastic. This elastic potential energy seems to be doing nothing until the balloon is popped. Once this occurs the energy dissipates, but it is not lost it simply shifts form.Gravitational Potential Energy is the energy stored by an object right before it is about to fall or accelerate in direct relation to the force of gravity. A skateboarder has direct potential energy directly before they begin to travel down the ramp.

All of these situations involve kinetic energy, which is basically the energy that is associated with the motion of an object. After the balloon pops, you can feel the air billow out of the balloon, this kinetic energy is what caused the air to move. This proves the law again, because the potential energy is not lost in this case, it is shifted into kinetic energy. Same with the skateboard, when the board begins its decent down the ramp, the energy changes from gravitational potential energy into kinetic. Like I said earlier the harder you try to disprove this law, the more impressive and in stone it can become. 

The law of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system. The law of conservation of energy states that the total amount of energy in a system remains constant, although energy within the system can be changed from one form to another or transferred from one object to another. Gravitational potential energy is energy an object possesses because of its position in a gravitational field. The most common use of this is an object near Earth’s surface with a constant gravitational acceleration of 9.8m/s^2. A real life example of this could be a moving baseball.  Before the baseball is thrown is has potential energy. When the baseball is thrown has kinetic energy due to its high speed. It also possesses gravitational potential energy due to its position above the ground. In reference to conservation of energy, the total amount of energy in this system remains the same. As the ball goes through the air to the catcher, the energy changes from kinetic to gravitational potential energy as the speed decreases and gets closer to the ground to the catcher.