Energy Diagrams

Claimed by Julianne Oliver

The Main Idea

Energy Diagrams are extremely useful for analyzing the interactions between two different objects. These diagrams can also be confusing if not properly understood. This page serves as a resource on how to construct and interpret energy diagrams. Let's get started!

A Computational Model

Vpython is great for modeling this concept. Using vpython, we can model many different systems that have kinetic and potential energy. We can model a spacecraft orbiting the Earth, and we can create graphs to display the kinetic, potential, and kinetic+potential energies of this system. See this code for how to do this!

Sample Vpython code: [1]

Examples

Be sure to show all steps in your solution and include diagrams whenever possible

Simple

labeling K, U, and K+U for varying situations

Middling

matching energy graphs to different situations

Difficult

creating energy graphs for different situations

Connectedness

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2. How is it connected to your major?
3. Is there an interesting industrial application?

History

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See also

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Further reading

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References

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