Skip to main content

All Questions

0 votes
3 answers
45 views

Is gravitational potential energy of body by $mgh$ negative? [closed]

Consider a 15kg object at 1m from earth ground level, is P.E = 15kg * 9.8m/s^2 * 1m = 147J or P.E = -Gm1m2/r^2 * h = -9.8 * 15kg * 1m= -147J after browsing for a while on debate of potential energy's ...
Neptotech -vishnu's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
65 views

How Can there be a Gravitational Potential when there is NO Gravitational Field? [closed]

How does it make any logic that there exist a potential when there is no net field for example when we have a Hollow Sphere with mass we can find out the the gravitational *potential inside the sphere ...
Aditya Agrawal's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
75 views

Why is work done by force $+mgh$ in the situation of throwing something up?

If there is a particle at point A(at rest) and a force moves it to point B(Above point A vertically)(final velocity = 0 at this point), the work done by gravity is $-mgh$. This I understand as the ...
Gaurav Batra's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
187 views

Is the gravitational potential energy of an object on the ground 0? [duplicate]

In class, we were reviewing kinetic and potential energy and my teacher claimed that on the ground, objects have potential energy. However, as they cannot fall further, isn't their gravitational ...
user386598's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
62 views

Why does Newtonian gravity necessarily imply that gravitational potential energy is negative? [duplicate]

Why can't the zero value of gravitational potential energy be set at a different point instead of infinite distance within Newtonian gravity? I am not asking why is gravitational potential energy ...
Manuel's user avatar
  • 476
1 vote
2 answers
103 views

Defintion of gravitational potential

I am not much clear regarding the defintion of "gravitational potential": Is the work done for bringing the unit mass from infinity to that point by, gravitaional force or external force? (...
Cerebral cortex 's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
94 views

Gravitational Potential Energy Behavior [duplicate]

I had a question regarding gravitational potential energy and escape velocity. I don't really understand the concept of escape velocity. I have been learning it as the velocity required for an object ...
QuantumCat23's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
222 views

Derivation of the gravitation potential energy and gravitation potential

I have some slight confusing in deriving the gravitation potential energy. In the image below, it explains that the gravitation potential energy is equal to the work done from infinity to a distance r ...
ThreadBucks's user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
78 views

Sign of work done by spring force [closed]

Two similar springs P and Q have spring constants $K_p$ and $K_q$ such that $K_p>K_q$. They are stretched by the same amount. Compare the work done by the springs. (NEET 2015) $$W_p=-\frac{1}{2}...
Starlight's user avatar
  • 347
1 vote
2 answers
80 views

Confusion in definition of Potential Energy

Potential energy is defined like this. $ΔP.E=-W_{AB}$. This means that the potential energy at point A minus potential energy at point B should equal the negative of the work done by a conservative ...
Hammock's user avatar
  • 122
1 vote
1 answer
103 views

A contradiction in the derivation of electrostatic potential energy? [closed]

I am a 12th grade high school student with no knowledge of vector calculus and more advanced physics.. so if possible, please try to refrain from using advanced concepts which I do not understand. ...
Anirudh Panguluri's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
43 views

Expression for Potential energy of a hanging mass

If the acceleration due to gravity is $g$ and a mass $m$ is hanging from a fixed support with a thread of length $l$, then it's potential energy ($U$) is given by: $$U = -mgl;$$ This was stated by my ...
user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
160 views

Minus sign in Force potential relation, a convention?

The usual defination of force in terms of potential energy is $$\vec F=-\nabla U$$ This definition leads to $$K_1+P_1=K_2+P_2\rightarrow \Delta K + \Delta P =0$$ Where $K$ and $P$ are kinetic and ...
GedankenExperimentalist's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
75 views

What is the significance of a reference point in calculating the potential?

The gravitational potential is given as $$U(r)=-\frac{GMm}{R}$$ where $G$ is the universal gravitational constant $M$ is the mass of the earth and $m$ is the mass of an arbitrary object and $R$ is the ...
Orpheus's user avatar
  • 335
0 votes
1 answer
47 views

What happens if we define the gravitational potential zero point at a finite distance? [duplicate]

Two questions. Can we, and if so how do we define the gravitational potential of a mass (say the sun) to be zero at a finite distance (say 1 light year)? How does this change the gravitational force ...
Kalle Anka's user avatar

15 30 50 per page
1
2 3 4 5
15