Difference between revisions of "Conservative force"
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When the only forces present in a system are conservative, [[mechanical energy]] is conserved. | When the only forces present in a system are conservative, [[mechanical energy]] is conserved. | ||
| − | Examples of | + | Examples of conservative forces: |
* [[Gravitational force]] | * [[Gravitational force]] | ||
* [[Hooke's Law|force performed by a spring]] | * [[Hooke's Law|force performed by a spring]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | Example of a non-conservative force: | ||
| + | |||
| + | *[[friction]] | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 00:09, April 9, 2012
Conservative forces are those that possess certain properties[1]:
1. The work it does on a particle is independent of its trajectory.
2. The work done on a particle that moves along a closed trajectory (where the initial and final positions are the same, or di = df) = 0) is zero.
3. The force can be written as the negative of the gradient of a potential energy function, i.e. 
.
When the only forces present in a system are conservative, mechanical energy is conserved.
Examples of conservative forces:
Example of a non-conservative force:
References
- ↑ Serway and Beichner, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Fifth Edition
