Conservation of Energy Priniciple

This is a principle that you have to remember. It's because of this principle that things can't keep going on forever, such as a swing.

• Energy cannot be created or destroyed
• Energy can never be created or destroyed, but it can be transferred to other energy stores.
• For example, when a swing is pushed, first there is an increase in kinetic energy, because the swing has sped up. When it reaches it's maximum point, it would have slowed down, and the energy would have been transferred to the gravitational potential energy store. As the swing comes down, the GPE decreases, and that energy is transferred to the kinetic energy store because the speed increases again.