Question

During the Olympic Games, an athlete competes in the archery competition. Describe the various energy transformations taking place between the moments as the bowstring is being pulled back to whhen the arrows strikes the target. Use as your system the athlete, the bowstring, the arrow, the air, the target, and the Earth.

Answer 1

In this system, when the bow string is pulled back with an applied force, potential energy is stored in the string. At that time, the kinetic energy is zero. At the moment when archer releases the bow string, the stored potential energy in the string will impart kinetic energy to the arrow and the arrow moves forward. Therefore, we can say that the potential energy of the string is converted to kinetic energy of arrow.

In real life scenario, there is some air resistance and gravity effect. As the arrow is going towards the target, the gravity would bring it towards the earth. Therefore, an archer usually aims higher above the target.