Question

How does gravity affect potential energy?

Answer 1

Hoot! You just asked your first question! Hang tight while I find people to answer it for you. You can thank people who give you good answers by clicking the 'Good Answer' button on the right!

Answer 2

you again yay lol

Answer 3

This is more along the lines of "Does gravity affext potential energy"

Sort of. Potential energy is an odd one to imagine, sometimes.
It's the energy possessed by an object or system by dint of it's spatial and mechanical configuration.

That definition alone is perhaps not so useful...and it's certainly not official. But what it means is that an object can potentially have energy due to where it is or what state the system is in.
Imagine we have a box and it's on the floor. The box, for all intents and purposes, has no potential energy. It isn't going anywhere and it just sits on the floor. It can't do any work in it's current position.

Now we hoist the box into the air. For any distance the box travels from the floor, it gains potential energy. Now let's back track. We've changed the box's spatial configuration by hoisting it into the air and so have given it potential energy.
Why does it now have potential energy? Because we can now drop the box (costing us no energy) and the box will fall. Maybe it falls onto a passer-by and injures them.

Box on the floor = No energy.
We lift the box = We spend our energy and give the box potential energy (as it wants to fall toward the ground).
We drop the box = Potential energy is converted to kinetic energy as the box falls.
Box injures someone = The kinetic energy has done work upon the person.

So we can see how it all flows and connects. We have to put energy into the box to fight against gravity, but you can't destroy or create energy....so the energy we've spent is potentially stored 'inside' the box.

Clearly, gravity effects a LOT of potential energies around us. In fact to some small extent, it's probably impossible to entirely avoid it's effects.

Answer 4

um can i have a small answer please?

Answer 5

Let me see

Answer 6

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Answer 7

lol please

Answer 8

Potential energy is possessed by an object or system by dint of its spatial and mechanical configuration. What it means is that an object can potentially have energy due to where it is or what state the system is in.

Imagine we have a box and it's on the floor. The box, for all intents and purposes, has no potential energy. It isn't going anywhere and it just sits on the floor. It can't do any work in it's current position. Now we hoist the box into the air. For any distance the box travels from the floor, it gains potential energy. Now let's back track. We've changed the box's spatial configuration by hoisting it into the air and so have given it potential energy. Why does it now have potential energy? Because we can now drop the box (costing us no energy) and the box will fall. Maybe it falls onto a passer-by and injures them. Box on the floor = No energy. We lift the box = We spend our energy and give the box potential energy (as it wants to fall toward the ground). We drop the box = Potential energy is converted to kinetic energy as the box falls. Box injures someone = The kinetic energy has done work upon the person.

Answer 9

That is about as short as I can get it

Answer 10

I'll try to shorten it further though!

Answer 11

aww thank you very much please dont take to much time out of your day for me i dont want to me to much a trouble to you

Answer 12

Is there a particular reason you need a shorter answer?

Answer 13

ya for a shool progect and i need only a few sentances

Answer 14

Also could you become a fan?

Answer 15

oh im new how do you become a fan

Answer 16

i figured it out

Answer 17

I see you got it :D
Thanks

Answer 18

can you be my fan? lol

Answer 19

i see you have i think lol

Answer 20

Already did :D

Answer 21

XD

Answer 22

I try finding some other info that is shorter! When is your project due?

Answer 23

lol today

Answer 24

What you could do is read what I wrote and pick a few sentences, or if you get extra credit for a longer report do that also, or read really fast lol

Answer 25

lol ya good idea thanks

Answer 26

Lifting the box is a little confusing, because you're doing something to the box to give it potential energy.... You don't have to do that: instead, dig a hole under the box... the box has now gained potential energy (potential to do work) due to its position above the bottom of the hole. You never touched the box! By falling, this potential energy can be converted to kinetic energy; to give the box more potential energy, dig the hole deeper. Of course this only remains true while the box is in a gravitational field....