Question

Suppose, an object is released in the air. The object attains the highest point, and falls down back again and is caught at the height it was released. a) When will the potential energy of the object have its maximum and minimum value? Explain. b) In case of kinetic energy, when will the kinetic energy be maximum?

Answer 1

Here during motion, the total energy remains same

we know that TE =KE +PE

When the object attains highest point,its velocity becomes ZERO so no Kinetic energy

Total Energy will be equal to Potental Energy

a)PE will be maximum when there is no Kinetic energy ,so At maximum height PE is Maximum

Similarly PE will be minimum when total energy is equal to KE

When the object is at the height it was released,where velocity is maximum. PE is minimum

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b)KE will be maximum when the velocity of object is maximum. Here there are two instances ,when object is released and when object is caught.