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Supplementary Learning
Materials for
Senior High School
Grade Level: Grade 12
Core Subject: General Physics 1
Semester: 1st Semester
Week 7

LEARNING COMPETENCY:

 Use potential energy diagrams to infer force; stable, unstable and neutral
equilibria; and turning points. –STEM_GP12WE-Ig-53

Subject Teacher: Ralph Kenneth Bauya

Contact Number:
 POTENTIAL ENERGY DIAGRAM

Begin
There is a relationship between work and mechanical energy change. Whenever
work is done upon an object by an external force, there will be a change in the total
mechanical energy of the object. If only internal forces are doing work, then there is no
change in the total amount of mechanical energy.

Your Targets
At the end of the module, you will be able to:
 Interpret diagram of potential energy; and
 Explain the connection between stability and potential energy using diagram.

Try This

Instructions: Write True if the statement is correct, otherwise write false if the
statement is in incorrect on the space provided.
_______1. Objects in equilibrium may be moving, but they are not accelerating.
_______2. The quantity of the total energy divided by the weight (mg) is located at the
maximum height of the particle.
_______3. Equilibrium occurs when the force is at its highest peak.
_______4. There are multiple forces acting on an object.
_______5. A spring is at its equilibrium position when there is elastic restoring force.
_______6. For the force to be upward the potential energy should be higher and higher
in that direction.
_______7. Changes in the system would cause an increase in potential energy in stable
equilibrium.
_______8. From a force perspective, an equilibrium occurs any time the total force
acting on an object is zero.
 _______9. Kinetic energy can never be negative.
_______10. To find K(x) at any point, take the total mechanical energy (constant) and
subtract U(x).

Do This

Direction: Draw/Create a potential graph that are:

a. In Stable Equilibrium

b. In Unstable Equilibrium

c. In Neutral Equilibrium

Explore!
Using the potential diagram below, answer the following questions and explain why.
Which of the points are:
1. In Stable
Equilibrium

2. In Unstable
Equilibrium

3. In Neutral
Equilibrium

Keep this in Mind

Often, you can get a good deal of useful information about the dynamical behavior of a
mechanical system just by interpreting a graph of its potential energy as a function of
position, called a potential energy diagram.

First, let’s look at an object, freely falling vertically, near the surface of Earth, in the
absence of air resistance. The mechanical energy of the object is conserved, E = K + U,
and the potential energy, with respect to zero at ground level, is U(y) = mgy, which is a
straight line through the origin with slope mg. In the graph shown in Figure, the x-axis is
the height above the ground y and the y-axis is the object’s energy.
The potential The potential energy graph for an object in vertical free fall, with various
quantities indicated.

The line at energy E represents the constant mechanical energy of the object, whereas
the kinetic and potential energies, KA and UA, are indicated at a particular height y A .
You can see how the total energy is divided between kinetic and potential energy as the
object’s height changes. Since kinetic energy can never be negative, there is a
maximum potential energy and a maximum height, which an object with the given total
energy cannot exceed:

K = E−U ≥ 0,
U ≤ E.

If we use the gravitational potential energy reference point of zero at y 0 we can rewrite
the gravitational potential energy U as mgy. Solving for y results in

y ≤ E/mg = ymax.

We note in this expression that the quantity of the total energy divided by the weight
(mg) is located at the maximum height of the particle, or ymax. At the maximum height,
the kinetic energy and the speed are zero, so if the object were initially traveling
upward, its velocity would go through zero there, and ymax would be a turning point in
the motion. At ground level, y 0 = 0, the potential energy is zero, and the kinetic energy
and the speed are maximum:

U0 = 0 = E − K0,
1
E = K0 = m v 02
2
 v 0= ± √ 2 E /m

The maximum speed ± v 0 gives the initial velocity necessary to reach ymax, the
maximum height, and − v 0represents the final velocity, after falling from ymax.
Consider a mass-spring system on a frictionless, stationary, horizontal surface, so that
gravity and the normal contact force do no work and can be ignored (Figure). This is
like a one-dimensional system, whose mechanical energy E is a constant and whose
potential energy, with respect to zero energy at zero displacement from the spring’s
1
unstretched length, x=0, is U(x) = kx 2.
2

(a) A glider between springs on an air track is an example of a horizontal mass-spring

system. (b) The potential energy diagram for this system, with various quantities
indicated.

You can read off the same type of information from the potential energy diagram in this
case, as in the case for the body in vertical free fall, but since the spring potential
energy describes a variable force, you can learn more from this graph. As for the object
in vertical free fall, you can deduce the physically allowable range of motion and the
maximum values of distance and speed, from the limits on the kinetic energy, 0 ≤ K ≤
E. Therefore, K = 0 and U = E at a turning point, of which there are two for the elastic
spring potential energy.

Xmax = ± √ 2 E /k
The glider’s motion is confined to the region between the turning points, −xmax ≤ x ≤
xmax. This is true for any (positive) value of E because the potential energy is
unbounded with respect to x. For this reason, as well as the shape of the potential
energy curve, U(x) is called an infinite potential well. At the bottom of the potential
well, x = 0,U = 0 and the kinetic energy is a maximum, K = E, so vmax = ±√ 2 E /m.

However, from the slope of this potential energy curve, you can also deduce information
about the force on the glider and its acceleration. We saw earlier that the negative of the
slope of the potential energy is the spring force, which in this case is also the net force,
and thus is proportional to the acceleration. When x = 0, the slope, the force, and the
acceleration are all zero, so this is an equilibrium point. The negative of the slope, on
either side of the equilibrium point, gives a force pointing back to the equilibrium point, F
= ± kx, so the equilibrium is termed stable and the force is called a restoring force. This
implies that U(x) has a relative minimum there. If the force on either side of an
equilibrium point has a direction opposite from that direction of position change, the
equilibrium is termed unstable, and this implies that U(x) has a relative maximum there.

A turning point is a point x at which particle reverses in motion (K = 0).

Stable and Unstable Equilibrium
There are certain modes or positions of special interest are called equilibrium. From a
force perspective, an equilibrium occurs any time the total force acting on an object is
zero. This includes when there are multiple forces acting on the object, all of which
cancel out.

Example of stale Equilibrium:

A spring is at its equilibrium position when there is no elastic restoring force.

The spring reaches a stable equilibrium.

Each of the images below show an example of equilibrium.

Stable Equilibrium exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system
would cause an increase in potential energy.
Unstable Equilibrium exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system
would cause a decrease in potential energy.
 Neutral Equilibrium exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system
have no effect on the potential energy.
Equilibrium on a Potential energy vs. Position Graph
Equilibrium occurs where the force is zero. The conclusions are that the equilibrium
positions are positions where the slope of the potential energy vs. position curve is zero.

 The stable equilibrium should be at lower potential then any nearby point.
 The unstable equilibrium should be at higher potential energy than any nearby
point.
 The neutral equilibrium should have the same potential energy as nearby points.

Apply what you have learned

Directions: Use the space provided to prepare a KWL chart. In the first column, write
things you already know about potential energy, forces, stability and equilibria. In the
second column, write things you still want to know. The last column, you will fill in things
you learned at the end of the unit.
K W L
What I Know What I Want To Know What I Learned

Reflect
 You have successfully made this thing possible! Your effort in finishing the tasks is
highly appreciated. Give your best in answering the next module.
I have learned that________________________________________________.
I have realized that ________________________________________________.
I will apply________________________________________________________

Assess what you have learned

lelearned
Directions: Read and analyse each items. Identify the term being described.

1. A state in which there is no net force and no net torque.

2. This is a kind mechanical system by interpreting a graph of its potential energy as a
function of position.
3. This terms exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system would
cause an increase in potential energy.
4. An equilibrium that should be at higher potential energy than any nearby point.
5. A symbolic representation of information using visualization techniques.
6. Forces act in the direction that decreases the _________.
7. Have the same potential energy as nearby points.
8. A _______ is at its equilibrium position when there is no elastic restoring force.
9. A point x at which particle reverses in motion.
10. The turning point is, where _______.

GLOSSARY:

Stable Equilibrium- exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system
would cause an increase in potential energy.
Unstable Equilibrium- exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system
would cause a decrease in potential energy.
Neutral Equilibrium-exists if the net force is zero, and small changes in the system
have no effect on the potential energy.

References:
https://phys.libretexts.org/Under_Construction/Purgatory/
2%3A_Applying_Models_to_Mechanical_Phenomena/
2.5%3A_Force_and_Potential_Energy
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-osuniversityphysics/chapter/8-4-potential-
energy-diagrams-and-stability/