Energy and Its Conservation

3 Conservation of Energy
REVIEW Recall and write the definition of the Review Vocabulary term.
VOCABULARY
closed system a system that does not gain or lose mass
closed system
NEW VOCABULARY Use your book to define each term.
law of conservation of
law of conservation of energy states that in a closed, isolated
energy
system, energy can neither be created nor destroyed
mechanical energy
elastic collision mechanical energy sum of the kinetic energy and potential energy of

inelastic collision the objects in a system

elastic collision collision in which the kinetic energy does not change

inelastic collision collision in which kinetic energy decreases

Get It? Explain whether the light from a battery-powered lamp can
have more energy than the battery’s energy.

No, the light from a battery-powered lamp cannot have more energy than

the battery’s energy. Energy can be transported from one place to another,

transferred between systems, and converted to different forms, such as

thermal energy released to the surrounding environment from a running

car. However, the system’s total energy in all of its forms remains constant.
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Describe the key ideas in the law of conservation of energy by

completing the following diagram.

Law of Conservation of Energy

closed system isolated system conserved energy

a system that a system on Energy can
does not gain or which the net neither be
lose mass external force is created nor
zero destroyed.

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165
3 Conservation of Energy (continued)
Identify and describe the two types of energy that make up
mechanical energy.

1. kinetic energy: the energy of a system that is associated with its

motion

2. potential energy: the energy stored in a system

Get It? Analyze how the ball’s final kinetic energy in Figure 23
would be different if friction transformed some of the system’s energy.

The final KE would be less because some of the ball’s PE would be

transformed to thermal energy due to friction and possibly some of the

energy would be transformed to sound energy.

Answer these questions about a frictionless roller coaster if the

coaster starts from rest at the top of a hill and then rolls down the hill.

Where is KE = PE? half-way down the hill

Where is KE = 0? at the start of the ride

Where is PE = 0? at the bottom of the hill

Get It? Analyze If most of the kinetic energy of a bouncing ball

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transforms into elastic potential energy, what happens to the rest of
the kinetic energy?

The KE transforms to thermal energy, because the bouncing ball

becomes warmer, and to sound energy, because we hear the sound of

the bounce.

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 3 Conservation of Energy (continued)
 se with Example
U TRY IT !
Problem 5. Problem
A 5.45 kg rock falls from a cliff that is 23.5 m above the ground to a
Use this column for
scratch work and cliff that is 12.3 m above the ground.
sketches. a. Find the kinetic energy of the rock when it reaches the lower
cliff. Assume air does no work on the rock.
b. What is the rock’s speed when it reaches the lower
cliff?

1. ANALYZE AND SKETCH THE PROBLEM

KNOWNS UNKNOWNS

m= 5.45 kg g = 9.8 N/kg GPEi =? KEf =?

h1 = 23.5 m vi = 0.0 m/s GPEf =? Vf =?

h2 = 12.3 m KEi = 0.0 J

2. SOLVE FOR THE UNKNOWNS

a. Determine the initial height of the rock relative to the
lower cliff.
h = h1 − h2 = 23.5 m − 12.3 m = 11.2 m

Determine the rock’s GPEi. Set the reference level as

the lower cliff.
GPEi = mgh = (5.45 kg)(9.8 N/kg)(11.2 m) = 598 J

Identify when KE and GPE are zero: KEi = 0.0 J and GPEf = 0.0 J
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Use the law of conservation of energy to determine KEf.

KEf + GPEf = KEi + GPEi

KEf = KEi + GPEi − GPEf

= 0.0 J + 598 J - 0.0 J = 598 J

b. Determine the speed of the rock, using the equation
for kinetic energy.
1 _
KEf = ​   ​ mv​  2f​
2

vf = ​  _
​  m ​ ​ = ​  √ _
2KE
√ f 
​ 
2(598 J)
 ​ ​ = 14.8 m/s
5.45 kg

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167
3 Conservation of Energy (continued)
TRY IT ! (CONTINUED)
3. EVALUATE THE ANSWER

• Explain why the units are correct. The magnitude of velocity is

measured in m/s. Energy is measured in kg ∙ m2/s2 = J.

Get It? Calculate the initial and final momenta for the remaining
cases in Figure 26. Verify that momentum is conserved for each case.
Case 1: pi = pf = 1.00 kg ⋅ m/s; momentum is conserved.

Case 2: pi = pf = 1.00 kg ⋅ m/s; momentum is conserved.

Case 3: pi = pf = 1.00 kg ⋅ m/s; momentum is conserved.

Case 4: pi = pf = 1.00 kg ⋅ m/s; momentum is conserved.

Write elastic or inelastic on each line to identify the type of collision

that matches each of the following descriptions.
elastic often involves collisions of hard objects
inelastic kinetic energy changes during the collision
inelastic often involves collisions of soft, sticky objects
elastic kinetic energy is unchanged by the collision

Complete the Venn diagram to compare and contrast perfectly

inelastic collisions and inelastic collisions.

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Perfectly Inelastic
inelastic collision
collision Both
Objects do not stick
Objects stick together.
together.
Final velocity of the
KEf < KEi Final velocity of the
objects is the same.
objects is different.

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 3 Conservation of Energy (continued)
 se with Example
U TRY IT !
Problem 6. Problem
INELASTIC COLLISION A truck with a mass of 4285 kg is moving at
Use this column for
9.35 m/s. It crashes into the rear end of a larger truck with a mass of
scratch work and
5495 kg moving at 6.35 m/s in the same direction.
sketches.
a. What is the final velocity if the trucks lock together?
b. How much does the kinetic energy decrease in the
collision?
1. ANALYZE AND SKETCH THE PROBLEM
KNOWNS UNKNOWNS

mA = 4285 kg mB = 5495 kg vf =?

vAi = 9.35 m/s vBi = 6.35 m/s ∆KE =?

vAf = vBf = vf

2. SOLVE FOR THE UNKNOWNS

a. Use conservation of momentum to find the final velocity.
pAi + pBi = pAf + pBf

mAvAi + mBvBi = (mA + mB)vf

__mAvAi + mBvBi
vf = ​   
    ​
mA + mB

____
​ 
(4285 kg)(9.35 m/s) + (5495 kg)(6.35 m/s)
=           ​ = 7.66 m/s
4285 kg + 5495 kg
b. First calculate KEf and KEi. Then use these to determine ∆KE.
_
1 _ 1
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2
KEf = ​   ​ ​mv​  f​  ​ = ​   ​ (mA + mB) ​v​  f​  2​
2 2
_
1
  = ​   ​ (4285 kg + 5495)(7.66 m/s)2 = 2.87×105 J
2
_
1 _ 1
KEi = ​   ​ mA​v​  Ai ​​  2 + ​   ​ mB​v​  Bi ​​  2
2 2
_
1 _ 1
  = ​   ​ (4285 kg)(9.35 m/s)2 + ​   ​ (5495 kg)(6.35 m/s)2 = 2.98×105 J
2 2
∆KE = KEf − KEi

   = 2.87×105 J − 2.98×105 J = −1.10×104 J

3. EVALUATE THE ANSWER
• Explain why your units are correct. Velocity is measured in meters
per second. Energy is measured in joules.

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169
3 Conservation of Energy (continued)

Get It? Compare and contrast elastic collisions and inelastic

collisions.

elastic collision: KE before and after the collision does not change;

inelastic collision: KE decreases after the collision; energy

transformed into another form, such as thermal or sound energy.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

47. Energy Diagrams A child jumps on a trampoline. Draw energy bar diagrams to
show the forms of energy.

a. The child is at the highest point. b. The child is at the lowest point.

Trampoline Child Child Trampoline Child Child

elastic gravitational kinetic elastic gravitational kinetic
potential potential energy potential potential energy
energy energy energy energy

Diagrams should show that all of the system’s Diagrams should show that all of the
energy is gravitational potential energy. system’s energy is elastic potential energy.
C11-07A-865893_A-A C11-08A-865893_A-A
48. Energy Explain why energy is considered a single quantity.

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Energy is considered a single quantity because, even though energy transformations take place all

the time, the transformations just involve different manifestations of the same energy.

49. Kinetic Energy Suppose a glob of chewing gum and a small, rubber ball collide
head-on in midair and then rebound apart. Would you expect kinetic energy to be
conserved? If not, what happens to the energy?

Even though the rubber ball rebounds with little waste of energy, kinetic energy would not be

conserved in this case because the glob of chewing gum probably was deformed in the collision.

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 3 Conservation of Energy (continued)
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS (CONTINUED)
50. Potential Energy A rubber ball is dropped from a height of 8.0 m onto a hard
concrete floor. The ball hits the floor and bounces repeatedly. Each time the ball
hits the floor, the ball-Earth system loses 1/5 of its mechanical energy. How many
times will the ball bounce before it bounces back up to a height of only about 4 m?
after three bounces

51. Energy As shown in Figure 27, a child slides down a playground slide. At the
bottom of the slide, she is moving at 3.0 m/s. How much energy was transformed
by friction as she slid down the slide?

36.0 kg 720 J

2.5 m

Figure 27

52. Conservation of Energy Your friend wants to solve the world’s energy problems
by inventing a device that will deliver ten times more energy than put into the
device. Can this device work? Explain.
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The availability of energy limits what can occur in a system, so if my friend’s device only receives

a certain amount of energy, then it cannot deliver/transfer/transform more than it receives.

53. Critical Thinking A ball drops 20 m. When it has fallen half the distance, or 10 m,
half of the energy is potential and half is kinetic. When the ball has fallen for half
the amount of time it takes to fall, will more, less, or exactly half of the energy be
potential energy?

The ball falls more slowly during the beginning part of its drop. Therefore, in the first half of the

time that it falls, it will not have traveled half of the distance that it will fall. Therefore, the ball will

have more potential energy than kinetic energy.

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