CHAPTER 7 ENERGY OF A

SYSTEM
WEN-BIN JIAN (簡紋濱)
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTROPHYSICS
NATIONAL CHIAO TUNG UNIVERSITY
OUTLINE

1. Systems & Environments

2. The Scarlar Product of Vectors
3. Work Done by a Constant Force
4. Work Done by a Varying Force
5. Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem
6. Potential Energy
7. Conservative Forces
8. Relation Between Potential Energy and Conservative Forces
9. Energy Diagram and Equilibrium
 USING ENERGY TO SOLVE PROBLEM
Energy concept used for solving physical problems is essential,
especially for the cases of conservative forces.
For example, the spring system, the force equation is

You may need to solve the differential equation if you work on force.
On the other hand, the force of the spring system is conservative so it
can be expressed by the new concept of potential energy.

·
2
Use the new concept of energy conservation, you can easily solve some
physical problems.
2 2
 1. SYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENTS
Understand the system with its environment. A system may
1. be a single objet (particle)
2. be a collection of objects (particles)
3. be a region of space (filling with gas or liquid, such as an engine)
4. vary in size and shape (rubber ball)
 1. SYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENTS
Example: A block with mass is sitting on frictionless surface on the
top of a car of mass . It is connected to another block of mass by
a lightweight cord over a lightweight and frictionless pulley. Assume
that the car can move without friction. At the instant the two blocks
start to move, what are the accelerations of the two blocks and the car?

m1

M m2
 2. THE SCARLAR PRODUCT OF VECTORS
Start from the x, y, z unit vectors, the product is a projection length of a
vector on another vector: ̂ · ̂ ̂· ̂ · 1, ̂ · ̂ ̂· · ̂ 0
Calculation from the components:

cos cos cos sin sin

sin sin cos sin

cos sin

sin cos

cos

cos · cos cos

 2. THE SCARLAR PRODUCT OF VECTORS
Example: The vectors and are given as , .
(a) Determine their scalar product. (b) Find the angle between the two
vectors.

(a)
· 3 1 2 2 1

(b) · 1 1
cos
3 2 1 2 65

≅ 82.9
 3. WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE
Work:
Vertical direction:

On the slide:

Summary, Work: , The Unit of Work: N m J (Joule)

Example: A partile moving on the plane undergoes a displacement
(m) when it is exerted by a constant force
. Please calculate the work done on the particle.

·∆ 2.0 5.0 3.0 2.0 16 (J)

 3. WORK DONE BY A CONSTANT FORCE
Example: A block of mass 2.00 kg on a table is pushed by a force of 20.0
N directed with an angle of 30o downward from the horizontal. The
kinetic fritcional coefficient is 0.2. Please calculate the work done by
the force and friction after traveling 10.0 m long.
2 kg
sin 30 19.6 10.0 29.6 (N)
29.6 0.2 5.92 (N)

Work Done by The Force: cos 30 20.0 10.0 ≅ 173 (J)

Work Done by Friction: 5.92 10.0 59.2 (J)
 4. WORK DONE BY A VARYING FORCE
Varying Force:

∆ ∆ ∆ ∆

lim
→

·
∆
, , , ,
· , , , ,
, , , ,
, ,
, ,
, ,
 4. WORK DONE BY A VARYING FORCE
Example: In the graph, the force acting on an particle is shown as a
function of position. If the particle is exerted by the force and moving
from to m, please calculate the work done on it.

It is noted that the integration is just the

area on the graph.

10 10 50 (J)
 4. WORK DONE BY A VARYING FORCE
Example: A force of N, with in meters, acts on a
particle, changing only the kinetic energy of the particle. How much
work is done on the particle as it moves from (2, 3) to (3, 0) (m)? Does
the speed of the particle increase, decrease, or remain the same?

̂
3 ̂ 4̂ · ̂ ̂
̂ ̂
̂
3 4 3 4
̂ ̂

4 19 12 7 (J)

The work is positive thus the energy of the particle increases.

The speed of the particle increases.
 4. WORK DONE BY A VARYING FORCE
Work Done on The Block by a Spring

2 2

2 positive work negative work

2
 4. WORK DONE BY A VARYING FORCE
Example: An archer pulls her bowstring back 0.400 m by exerting a force
that increases uniformly from zero to 230 N. (a) What is the equivalent
spring constant of the bow? (b) How much work does the archer do in
pulling the bow?

The force increases uniformly, thus it follow the expression

.
230 0.400 575 (N/m)

The archer did positive work,

0.400 46.0 (J)

 4. WORK DONE BY A VARYING FORCE
Example: A small particle of mass is pulled to the top of a frictionless
half-cylinder (of radius R) by a cord that passes over the top of the
cylinder. (a) If the particle moves at a constant speed, calculate the
tension in the cord. (b) Find the work done in moving the particle at
constant speed from the bottom to the top of the half-cylinder.

(a)
cos

(b)
/
cos

sin
/
 5. WORK-KINETIC ENERGY THEOREM
The kinetic energy is an inertia energy of the system. For a motional
particle, the kinetic energy is just a function of its mass and speed.

2
Work is a mechanism to transfer energy into or out of a system. You can
do positive work to raise the system energy, or you can do negative
work to decrease the system energy.

/2

∆
2 2 2 2
 5. WORK-KINETIC ENERGY THEOREM
Example: A 6.0 kg block initially at rest is pulled to the right along a
horizontal, frictionless surface by a constant force of 12 N. Find the
speed of the block after it has moved 3.0 m.

Use The Force Concept to Solve It:

.
2.0 (m/s2) 2 0 2 2.0 3.0 12
3.5 (m/s)
Use The Energy Concept to Solve It:

12 3.0 36 (J)

6.0
36 3.5 (m/s)
2 2 2
 6. POTENTIAL ENERGY
Potential Energy – convert the external force to energy and put the
converted energy to the system energy

Potential Energy of Gravitational Force

̂ ̂ · ̂
 6. POTENTIAL ENERGY
̂
Potential Energy of a Spring
̂

̂ · ̂
2 2

∆
2 2

2 2 2 2

2 2
 6. POTENTIAL ENERGY
Example: A canister of mass m = 0.40 kg slides across a horizontal
frictionless counter with speed v = 0.50 m/s. It then runs into and
compresses a spring of spring constant k = 750 N/m. When the canister
is momentarily stopped by the spring, by what distance d is the spring
compressed?

. .
The kinetic energy: 0.050 (J)
The energy is used to compress the spring and change to potential
energy.
750
0.050 0.012 (m) 1.2 (cm)
2 2
 7. CONSERVATIVE FORCES
Conservative Forces
1. The work done by a conservative force on a particle between two
different position is independent of the path taken by the particle.
2. The work done by a conservative force on a particle moving through
any closed loop is zero.
3. There exists a scalar potential that its gradient is the conservative
force. -> vector calculus – gradient theory

scarlar potential

force – slope:
slope -> force ∆ ∆
∆ ∆
 7. CONSERVATIVE FORCES
Example: A single constant force N acts on a 4.00-kg
particle. (a) Calculate the work done by this force if the particle moves
from the origin O to a position P at m. Does this result depend
on the path? (b) What is the speed of the particle at P if its speed at O is
4.00 m/s? (c) What is the change in its potential energy?
(a) , ,
3̂ 5̂ · ̂ ̂ 3 5 1 (J)
, ,
, ,
3 5 3 5 1 (J)
(b) , ,

4.00 4.00 4.00 3.94 (m/s)

∆ 1
2 2
(c)
1 (J)
 8. RELATION BETWEEN POTENTIAL ENERGY AND
CONSERVATIVE FORCES
The relation between and ·

· ̂ ̂ · ̂ ̂
, ,
Since x, y, z are independent

, , ̂ ̂ ̂ ̂

, , ̂ ̂ , , , ,
 8. RELATION BETWEEN POTENTIAL ENERGY AND
CONSERVATIVE FORCES
The Potential Energy and Force of a Spring Sytem

1
2

The Gravitational Potential Energy and Force

· ̂ · ̂ sin
 9. ENERGY DIAGRAM AND EQUILIBRIUM
A particle is in equilibrium if the net force acting on it is zero.

(a) Stable Equilibrium: a small displacement in any direction results in a

restoring force that pushes the particle back to its equilibrium position.
(b) Unstable Equilibrium: a small displacement results in a force that
accelerates the particle away from its equilibrium position.
(c) Neutral Equilibrium: a small displacement results in zero force and
the particle remains in equilibrium.
 9. ENERGY DIAGRAM AND EQUILIBRIUM
Example: In the region –a < x < a the force on a particle is represented
by the potential energy function ,
where and are positive constants. (a) Find the force. (b) At what
value of is the force zero? (c) Is the potential stable or not?

0 0

4 3
0
 9. ENERGY DIAGRAM AND EQUILIBRIUM
Example: For a Lenard-Jones potential energy of
, where and are two parameters, please calculate its force.

12 6
4

U(r) U(r) r0: equilibrium position

E1: free
E2: bounded
r0 E1

r E2 r