We tend to define the potential energy stored in the spring as zero when the spring is relaxed. … By the reasonable definition that PE is zero when x = 0, the potential energy can never be negative.
Can there be negative potential energy?
Potential energy can also be negative because you set your zero point, the point where your potential energy is zero. … If the table top is the zero of PE, then the same book on the floor now has a negative amount of potential energy.
What is the potential energy of a spring?
Elastic potential energy is the potential energy stored as a result of the deformation of an elastic object, e.g. B. the stretching of a spring. It is equal to the work done to stretch the spring, which depends on both the spring constant k and the stretched distance.
What is negative potential energy?
Negative potential energy means that the work done gets smaller as we get closer to the field of the main objects because the strength of the fields is actually doing all the positive work instead of the external force.
Why is potential energy negative?
Gravitational potential energy is negative at the Earth’s surface because the gravitational field does work to bring a mass back from infinity, i.e. work must be done on a body since it is far from the Earth’s gravitational field. So the potential energy is negative.
What happens to the potential energy when a spring is compressed?
Solution: When a spring is compressed or stretched, the potential energy of the spring increases in both cases. This is because we work in both compression and extension.
How do you calculate the potential energy of a spring?
How to calculate the potential energy of a spring
- Determine the spring constant k . …
- Decide how far you want to stretch or compress your spring. …
- Substitute these values into the potential energy formula of the spring: U = ½kΔx 2 .
- Calculate the energy.