Chapter 3

Work and Energy

We’ve seen how to use Newton’s equations of motion to find the equations of motion for a
system. It requires that we know what form the forces acting on the system take. In this
chapter, we’ll see a second way to analyse systems through the use of conservation laws,
specifically the laws of Energy and Momentum conservation.

3.1 Kinetic Energy and Work

We can find a relationship for the kinetic energy of a system by using Newton’s second law.

F(x, t) = ma(x, t) ,
dv(x, t)
v(x, t) · F(x, t) = mv(x, t) · .
dt

Next we use the following two results,

1 2
1 2
d 2
v (x, t) dv(t)
= v(x, t) · , and v2 (x, t) = |v(x, t)|2 ,
dt dt
= v 2 (x, t) .

We have applied the standard chain rule in the first result, noting that we are differentiating
with respect to t and not v. We can now find that,

1 d(v 2 (x, t))

F(x, t) · v(x, t) = m .
2 dt
26 Work and Energy

We can integrate this expression between two times, t1 and t2 to find that,

⁄t2 ⁄t2
1 d(v 2 (x, t))
F(x, t) · v(x, t) dt = m dt ,
2 dt
t1 t1
1 Ë Èt2
= m v 2 (x, t) ,
2 t1
⁄t2
1 1
F(x, t) · v(x, t) dt = mv22 (x, t) ≠ mv12 (x, t) .
2 2
t1

This is called the Work-Energy principle. We define the right hand side to be the kinetic
energy, and we define the lefthand side to be another type of energy quantity called work.
Note that both kinetic energy and work are scalar quantities, with units of Joules.
In special cases, where the force only depends on position and does not vary with time,
so F = F(x), we can make a change of variables on the lefthand side. Namely we change
v dt = dr dt
dt = dr, where dr is a infinitesimal path segment along the trajectory of our
particle. In this case we get that,

⁄r2
1 1
F · dr = mv22 ≠ mv12 .
r1
2 2

The lefthand side is now the more common way to define the work of a system. So we
define the infinitesimal work as dW © F · dr. Summing over all the infinitesimal segments
we get,
⁄
W = F · dr .
3.1 Kinetic Energy and Work 27

3.1.1 Example: 1D Work

How much work is done in lifting a mass m by height of h? We define up as the positive x
direction, xA as the starting height and xB as the final height. Then,

⁄xB
WAB = F dx ,
xA
⁄xB
= ≠mg dx ,
xA

= ≠mg[x]xxBA ,
= ≠mgxA + mgxB ,
= ≠mgh.

However, here we have found the work done by the gravitational force. How much work is
done by the lifting force? It will be equal and opposite, so mgh.

3.1.2 3D Work
In general, the work done by a force will depend on the trajectory of the particle through
space. The trajectory, or path, of the particle is denoted r(t). But since any path for a point
like particle is actually always a (perhaps curvy) line through space, we can parameterise the
trajectory with some 1D parameter which we will call s.
An infinitesimal segment of this path, ds is given by |v|dt.
Some forces, like gravity, don’t care about the exact path taken through space and their
work only depends on the start and end points of the path. Such forces are called conservative
forces, and also have the property that Ò ◊ F = 0. You will see in later years why this is the
case, and which forces this applies to. For conservative forces, the work done over a closed
loop is always zero. However, friction is an example of a non-conservative, or dissipative
force. So for friction, over a closed loop, there will be a net amount of work done.
Frictionless constraint forces do no work. For example, the tension force in a pendulum
or the normal force of a block on a surface, these forces can do no work, since these forces
are always perpendicular to the direction of motion, i.e. T · v = 0 and N · v = 0.
28 Work and Energy

Fig. 3.1

3.1.3 Example: Friction down a slope

In this example will see the work done in moving a block against friction in a closed loop up
and down a slope, starting at point A, moving to point B and then back to A. We separate
the paths, first AB then BA. We define positive x to be down the slope, and positive y to
be upwards. The gravitational force on the block is given by,

Fg = mg sin ◊ i ≠ mg cos ◊ j .

What is the work done by the gravitational force?

⁄B
WABg = mg sin ◊ dx ≠ mg cos ◊ dy ,
A
h
= mg sin ◊ ,
sin ◊
= mgh .
⁄A
WBAg = mg sin ◊ dx ≠ mg cos ◊ dy ,
B
h
= ≠mg sin ◊ ,
sin ◊
= ≠mgh .
3.2 Potential Energy 29

This is what we expected, since gravity is a conservative force, there is no net work done
over a closed loop.
Now let’s consider the frictional force,

Fµ = ≠µmg v̂ ,
= ±µmg cos ◊ i ,

where the plus or minus sign depends on the direction of v̂. What is the work done by the
frictional force?
⁄B
WABf = +µmg cos ◊ dx ,
A
h
= µmg cos ◊ ,
sin ◊
⁄A
WBAf = ≠µmg cos ◊ dx ,
B
≠h
= ≠µmg cos ◊ ,
sin ◊
h
= µmg cos ◊ .
sin ◊

So the net work done by friction is given by 2µmg cos ◊ sinh ◊ .

3.2 Potential Energy

We saw that for conservative forces, the work done between two points is only dependent on
the start and end positions. In this case then we can say that,

⁄B
WAB = F · dr ,
A

= f (rA , rB ) ,

where f is some unknown function, and rA and rB are the vector positions of the start and
end points. We can begin to find the form of this function by defining another function,
30 Work and Energy

V (r), as the indefinite integral,

⁄
V (r) = ≠ F · dr .

We call this function the potential energy of the force field F . It is related to the work via,

⁄B
WAB = F · dr ,
A

= ≠ [V (rB ) ≠ V (rA )] .

So the work done in a force field is equal to minus the variation in the potential energy. In
this way we can consider the potential energy as the potential to do work. The zero point
of the potential energy is set arbitrarily, only the difference in potential energy between two
points matters physically.
Another way of writing the potential is the following,
⁄
V (r) = ≠ F · dr ,

) F = ≠ÒV ,

where Ò is the gradient operator. In 3D cartesian coordinates this is given by,

A B
ˆ ˆ ˆ
Ò© , ,
ˆx ˆy ˆz

So now we have another direct link between energy and the force. If we know the potential
energy of a system, we can often work out the force, but only when the force is conservative.
3.2 Potential Energy 31

We can combine this notion of the potential of a conservative force with the work energy
principle we derived earlier.

⁄r2
W12 = F · dr ,
r1

= V (r1 ) ≠ V (r2 ) ,
⁄r2
1 1
F · dr = mv22 ≠ mv12 ,
r1
2 2
1 1
) V (r1 ) ≠ V (r2 ) = mv22 ≠ mv12 ,
2 2
1 2 1 2
) V (r1 ) + mv1 = V (r2 ) + mv2 .
2 2

In words this means that the total mechanical energy, E, which we define as the sum of the
kinetic energy (K) and the potential energy (V ), at r1 equals the total mechanical energy
at r2 .

E(r1 ) = E(r2 ) .

So the total energy of a conservative force field is always conserved. All of this is simply
derived from Newton’s laws. One consequence is that if we know the energy of the system,
it is usually possible to derive all of the dynamics from just the energy, bypassing using
Newton’s laws directly. Consider a very simple example, dropping a ball from a building.
Initial velocity is 0, and initial height is h.
In terms of energy we know that at the start, E(h) = K + V (r) = 0 + mgh, where K is
the kinetic energy. At the bottom, E(0) = K + V (r) = 12 mv 2 + 0. By energy conservation
we know that E(h) = E(0). So,

1
mgh = mv 2 ,
2
Ò
v = 2gh ,
Ô
v(x) = 2gx .

We now have an equation for the velocity of the ball all the way down the path.
As we can see, when a particle moves in a force field, energy flows from the potential
energy to kinetic energy and vice versa.
32 Work and Energy

3.2.1 Example: Ball up a hill

How fast must one throw a 1 kg ball up a frictionless slope to climb h = 1 m? Assume no
rolling.
The first thing to note is that, to manage to get to that height, we will require E(0) Ø
Ô
E(h), such that 12 mv 2 Ø mgh. In this case then we must have v > 2gh = 4.43 ms≠1 .
Note how this answer doesn’t depend on the angle of the slope!
However, now consider if there is friction. Then we must know the slope. Suppose that
the angle is ◊ = fi/3 and the coefficient of dynamic friction is µd = 0.5. In this case then,

1 2
mv Ø mgh + Eµ ,
2

where Eµ is the energy dissipated by friction, and is equal to the work done by the frictional
force ≠Wµ .
h
sin ◊
⁄
Wµ = ≠µd mg cos ◊ dx ,
0
h
= ≠µd mg cos ◊ ,
sin ◊

which means that

A B
1 2 cos ◊
mv > mgh 1 + µd ,
2 sin ◊
) v > 5.03 ms≠1 .

3.2.2 Example: Particle constrained to move in a circle

Consider the case where a ball is constrained to move on the inside of circular bowl. The
initial position is the edge of the bowl, and the initial velocity is u = 0 ms≠1 . What is the
velocity as a function of the angle?
There are two forces in this example, gravity and the normal force. The normal force,
because it is perpendicular to the motion v, does no work. The gravitational force, mg is
conservative. So by energy conservation, we know that,

1 2 1
mv + mgx = mu2 + mgh ,
2 2
= mgh.
3.2 Potential Energy 33

Fig. 3.2

We know that the energy at any position must equal the initial energy. So we find that,

1 2
mv = mg(h ≠ x) ,
2 Ò
v = 2g(h ≠ x) .

We can rewrite (h ≠ x) as R cos ◊, where R is the radius of the bowl. This means that
Ô
v = 2gR cos ◊.
Now, what is the normal force as a function of angle? We know the motion is circular,
so we know that the equation for circular acceleration holds.

v2
|ac | = ,
R
= 2g cos ◊ .

Note that this is not uniform circular motion, so there is a tangential component to the
acceleration. However, this is not important for the normal force. N must do two things,
act against g and also provide the centripetal acceleration we just found. So in the radial
34 Work and Energy

direction we have that,

N + mg · R̂ = mac ,
N ≠ mg cos ◊ = 2mg cos ◊ ,
N = 3mg cos ◊ .

Note how N is zero at the bowl edge where the motion began, and maximum at the minimum
point of the bowl.