Concepts

Spring Potential Energy

The amount of energy stored in something that is being compressed or expanded. It can be found by multiplying half of the spring constant by the square of the distance the spring was expanded or compressed.

Spring Constant

How resistant a spring is to being stretched or compressed. This can be found by placing a force on the spring and dividing that force by the distance the spring stretched or compressed.

Gravitational Potential Energy

This is the amount of energy something has stored due to its height in a gravitational field. It can be found by multiplying the mass of the object in question by acceleration due to gravity by the object's distance from the ground.

Kinetic Energy

This is energy caused by motion. It cab me found by squaring the velocity of an object and multiplying it by half of its mass.

Thermal Energy

Energy lost in the transfer from potential energy to kinetic energy. It can be found by subtracting kinetic energy and potential energy from total energy.

Total Energy

This is the total amount of energy in a closed system, which will never change. Total energy is found by adding kinetic energy, potential energy, and thermal energy.

Distance vs. Time

On a graph, distance would be the y-axis and time would be the x-axis. The slope of the line created could be expressed as velocity.

Velocity vs. Time

On a graph, velocity would be the y-axis and time would be the x-axis. The slope of the line created could be expressed as acceleration.

Rotational Inertia

This is the resistance a circular or cylindrical object has to rotating. It can be found by squaring the radius of the circle and multiply that by its mass.