2.

3 Work, energy, power and momentum

1. Key points to know
You must know:
-work done is a measure of the energy transferred
between two energy stores
-there are many forms of energy store, including kine-
tic, gravitational and elastic
-energy can be conserved
-power is the rate of energy transfer
-efficiency is: useful work out
total work in or useful power out
total power in .
-identify the energy stores and pathways for a speci-
fied energy transfer
-calculate work done as force × distance and power
as force × speed
-interpret force-distance graphs
-include the effects of resistive forces in energy-change
calculations
-calculate changes in kinetic energy and changes in
gravitational potential energy
-calculate efficiency.
-that an alternative form for Newton’s second law of
motion is force = rate of change of momentum
-that impulse is equal to the change in momentum
and this is the area under a force-time graph
-energy can be transferred to kinetic energy during an
explosion.
-define and understand the meaning of momentum
-apply the law of conservation of momentum to
analyse collisions and explosions for motion along a
straight line
-identify collisions as elastic or inelastic.
2. Work and definitions of work 3. graphical way of calculating work done
If the force doing work is not constant (for exam-
ple, when a spring is compressed), then graphical
techniques can be used.
Work is a scalar quantity. Its definition is as follows.
Work done = F s cos θ
If the force and the displacement are in the same di-
rection, this can be simplified to
’Work done = force × distance’ From this definition,
the SI units for work done are Nm. We define a new
unit called the joule: 1 J = 1 N m.
The total work done is the area under the
force-displacement graph as shown below:
in the above example: The task in the second case
would be easier to perform (it involves less force) but
overall it takes more work since work has to be done
to overcome friction. In each case, the useful work
is the same.
Useful equations for the work done include:
- work done when lifting something vertically
= mgh where m represents mass (in kg)
g represents the Earth’s gravitational field
strength 9.81 N kg−1 h represents the height

change (in m ) - Work done in compressing or

extending a spring = 12 k∆x2
4. Energy and work done 5. Power and Efficiency 6. Linear Momentum and Impulse
The amount of energy transferred is equal to the work Power is defined as the RATE at which energy is Linear momentum (always given the symbol p ) is de-
done. Energy is a measure of the amount of transferred. This is the same as the rate at which fined as the product of mass and velocity. Momentum
work done. This means that the units of energy work is done. = mass × velocity
must be the same as the units of work - joules. Power = energy transferred
time taken Power = timework done
taken

The principle of conservation of energy: The SI unit for power is the joule per second Js−1 . p = mv
- Overall the total energy of any closed system must Another unit for power is defined - the watt
be constant. (W).1 W = 1 J s−1 . The SI units for momentum must be kgms−1 . Al-
- Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just chan- If something is moving at a constant velocity v ternative units of N s can also be used (see below).
ges form. against a constant frictional force F , the power P ne- Since velocity is a vector, momentum must be a vec-
- There is no change in the total energy in the Uni- eded is P = F v tor. In any situation, particularly if it happens quic-
verse. Efficiency = useful work OUT kly, the change of momentum ∆p is called the impulse
total work IN
There are many types of energy: useful energy OUT (∆p = F ∆t).
Efficiency = total energy IN
Kinetic energy, Gravitational potential, Elas- Newton’s second law states that the resultant force
Efficiency = useful power OUT
total power IN is proportional to the rate of change of momentum.
tic potential energy, Radiant energy, Nuclear Efficiency has no unit. it is often written as a percen-
energy, Electrical energy, Electrostatic potential, So- Mathematically we can write this as
tage.
lar energy, Internal energy, Thermal energy, Chemical
( final momentum - initial momentum) ∆p
energy, Light energy F = =
time taken ∆t
Equations for the first three types of energy are given
below. example to understand momentum:
Kinetic energy = 12 mv 2
where m is the mass (in kg), v is the velocity (in ms−1
p2
) = 2m where p is the momentum (in kgmss−1 ), and
m is the mass (in kg)
Gravitational potential energy = mgh
where m represents mass (in kg), g represents the
Earth’s gravitational field ( 10 N kg−1 ), h represents
the height change (in m )
Elastic potential energy = 21 k∆x2
where k is the spring constant (in Nm−1 ), ∆x is the
extension (in m)
PLEASE NOTE: in classical physics Mass is always
conserved and energy is also conserved. But in quan-
tum physics you will learn that energy and mass can
be conveted to one another. Here we are dealing with
classical physics.
 7. Momentum and collisions
The law of conservation of linear momentum states
that ’the total linear momentum of a system of in-
teracting particles remains constant provided there is
no resultant external force’,
ELASTIC AND INELASTIC COLLISIONS
The law of conservation of linear momentum is not
enough to always predict the outcome after a colli-
sion (or an explosion). This depends on the nature of
the colliding bodies. For example, a moving railway
truck, mA′ , velocity v, collides with an identical sta-
tionary truck mB . Possible outcomes are:

A collision in which no mechanical energy is lost

is called an elastic collision. In reality, collisions
between everyday objects always lose some energy -
the only real example of elastic collisions is the colli-
sion between molecules.
For an elastic collision, the relative velocity of ap-
proach always equals the relative velocity of separa-
tion.
In (b), the railway trucks stick together during the
collision (the relative velocity of separation is zero).
This collision is what is known as a totally inelas-
tic collision. A large amount of mechanical energy
is lost (as heat and sound), but the total momentum
is still conserved.
In energy terms, (c) is somewhere between (a) and
(b). Some energy is lost, but the railway trucks do
not join together. This is an example of an inelastic
collision. Once again the total momentum is conser-
ved.
Linear momentum is also conserved in explosions.