What is Energy?

What is Energy?

The ability to do the work of a body is called Energy.

                        OR

 A body possesses energy if it is capable of doing work.

Energy is a critical and fundamental idea in science. It links nearly all of the natural phenomena. When we are saying that a body has energy, we imply that it has the capacity to do work. Water strolling down the stream has the capacity to do work, so it possesses energy. The energy of strolling water may be used to run water generators or water turbines. Energy exists in numerous forms, such as mechanical energy, heat energy, light energy, sound energy, electric energy, chemical energy, nuclear energy, etc. Energy may be converted from one form into another.

Types of Mechanical Energy

Mechanical Energy possessed by a body is of two types.

1. Kinetic Energy

2. Potential Energy

What is Kinetic Energy?

The energy possessed by a body due to its motion is called it is kinetic energy.

Explanation:

The flowing air is called wind. We can use wind energy for different purposes. Drive the windmill, propel the sailboat, and power generation. Therefore, a moving object has kinetic energy because it can do work due to movement. Once all its kinetic energy is used up, the main body stops moving.

                 The energy of the wind moves the sailing boats.

What is Potential Energy?

The energy possessed by a body due to its position is known as its potential energy.

Explanation

Often a body has the ability to do work although it is at rest. For example, an apple on a tree is capable of doing work as it falls. Thus, it possesses energy due to its position. The kind of energy which a body possesses due to its position is called its potential energy.

The stored water has potential energy due to its altitude. Raising to a certain height allows the hammer to do its work because it has potential energy. The drawn bow has potential energy due to its draw position. When you let go, the energy stored in the ​bow pushes the arrow outward. The energy present in the drawn arc is called elastic potential energy. The potential energy of the hammer is ​due to its height, and the energy existing in the body due to its height is called gravitational Potential Energy.

Relation between Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy 

Although these main forms of energy are very different, they complement each other. When it is released, potential energy always leads to kinetic energy [4], and kinetic energy is needed so that the object can store energy as potential energy in one form or another. For example, the rock at the edge of a cliff does not directly need kinetic energy to store the potential energy it sends down from an eroding cliff. But erosion requires kinetic energy to push the rock to the edge. Therefore, it is necessary for rocks due to their potential energy.

Since these are the two most important forms of energy globally, especially in the human sphere, there is always a struggle between potential energy and kinetic energy in daily life.