Questions tagged [potential-energy]
Potential energy is the energy of a body or a system due to the position of the body or the arrangement of the particles of the system.
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Violation of conservation of energy and potential energy between objects
I would like to clarify my question. I have numbered them to be independent questions
For any conservative fields, $\vec{F} = -\nabla U$. Which means the restoring force is opposite to the increasing ...
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What is the physical reason a $+5V$ equipotential coutour cannot intersect a $-5V$ equipotential coutour?
Now I've been told that equipotential contours with different values can never intersect. That is, if one level is 5V and one is -5V, they can't intersect. This make sense to me mathematically (one ...
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Does the potential energy of fluid rising on a string change?
Lets say I have a glass of water at rest. Then I go and hang a string above the water (vertically), such as the end of the string is immersed in the water. Over time some of the water is going to ...
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Is there really no meaning in potential energy and potential?
I have been told all my physics life that potential energy between two mass/charge has no meaning and only their difference has meaning. The same goes for electric potential, only the difference ...
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Could someone remind me what this means again? $\nabla U = \pm F$
You know that for a potential function (conservative force/fields) that
$\nabla U = \pm \vec{F}$
In math, we don't have that minus sign, we have only the plus one.
What does it mean if you get rid ...
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Point charge potential (sign problem)
I'm a bit embarrassed, but I'm not able to compute the electric potential at point $P$ (at a distance $R$ from the origin) generated by a positive unitary point charge in the origin with the right ...
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Why is gravitational potential energy negative, and what does that mean?
I usually think of gravitational potential energy as representing just what it sounds like: the energy that we could potentially gain, using gravity. However, the equation for it (derived by ...
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Potential energy of a charged ring [closed]
Consider a ring of radius $R$, and charge density $\rho$. What will be the potential energy of the ring in its self field?
The best I can do:
$$dq = \rho R \cdot \, d \alpha $$
$$E_p = 2 \pi R \cdot ...
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In continuum mechanics, what is work potential in the context of total potential energy?
I'm reading a book on the finite element method. Specifically I'm looking at the background material where they are discussing potential energy, equilibrium, and the Rayleigh–Ritz method.
The book ...
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What is the electric potential at a point?
1) What does the electric potential at a point exactly mean? My teacher tells me that current flows from higher potential to lower potential but when I ask him the reason, he fails to give me a ...
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