What is potential energy?

What is potential energy?

• A. Kinetic energy is energy of motion.
• B. Potential energy is energy stored in an object due to its height above the ground.
• C. Energy stored in chemical bonds.
• D. Energy that depends on temperature.

Answer: (B)

Potential energy is energy stored because of where something is or how it’s configured. For gravity, that means energy that depends on height above a reference level. When you lift an object, you increase its gravitational potential energy by an amount mgh, where m is mass, g is gravity, and h is height. If you drop it, that stored energy can become kinetic energy as it falls. So saying potential energy is energy stored in an object due to its height above the ground captures this idea precisely. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, so it’s not energy stored due to position. Energy stored in chemical bonds is chemical energy, a different kind of stored energy, and energy that depends on temperature is thermal energy.

Potential energy is energy stored because of where something is or how it’s configured. For gravity, that means energy that depends on height above a reference level. When you lift an object, you increase its gravitational potential energy by an amount mgh, where m is mass, g is gravity, and h is height. If you drop it, that stored energy can become kinetic energy as it falls. So saying potential energy is energy stored in an object due to its height above the ground captures this idea precisely.

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, so it’s not energy stored due to position. Energy stored in chemical bonds is chemical energy, a different kind of stored energy, and energy that depends on temperature is thermal energy.