Mechanical energy is the difference between the kinetic and potential energies of an object. true or false?
That makes no sense to me at all.
The total mechanical energy is the sum of the kinetic and potential energies.
False. Mechanical energy is the sum of kinetic energy (KE) and potential energy (PE) of an object. It is not the difference between the two. To calculate the mechanical energy, you need to add the kinetic and potential energies together.
Kinetic energy is the energy possessed by an object due to its motion and is given by the equation KE = (1/2)mv², where m is the mass of the object and v is its velocity.
Potential energy, on the other hand, is the energy stored within an object based on its position or configuration. The most common forms of potential energy are gravitational potential energy and elastic potential energy.
Gravitational potential energy (GPE) is the energy an object possesses due to its position relative to Earth's surface, and it is given by the equation GPE = mgh, where m is the mass of the object, g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s² on Earth), and h is the vertical distance from a reference point (often the ground level).
To calculate the mechanical energy of an object, simply add the kinetic energy and potential energy together: Mechanical energy (ME) = KE + PE.