Concept of potential energy:

Potential energy is the energy of altitude. It is one of the forms of energy in physics. It is a "potential" energy that an object acquires due to being under the influence of gravity such as Earth's gravity or under the influence of an electric field if it has an electric charge.

Types of potential energy:

• Gravitational potential energy.
• Potential energy under the influence of an electric field.
• Energy placed under the influence of an elastic tensile force, such as a spring.

Changing potential energy in altitude:

The potential energy of an object changes as its height above the ground. If we temporarily assume that the potential energy of an object on the surface of the earth is equal to zero, and then we throw a stone vertically upward, the object begins with a high movement energy and soon slows down its velocity slowly due to gravity, and its kinetic energy turns into a position energy during its height. Even if the stone had reached its maximum height, all of its kinetic energy was converted into potential energy. And the stone begins by the action of the position energy to move secondly to the bottom, where its speed increases until it meets the ground, then the energy of its position (which it acquired on the top) has been converted into kinetic energy secondly.

At each point of the stone’s path during ascending and descending, the sum of its motion energy and its position energy is constant.

Pendulum and Mode Energy:

The clock pendulum moves in an arc around its center of gravity, so we find it moving from the highest point on the right, where it is fixed for a moment and its speed increases towards the central point where its height is the least possible, and at that point it has reached its maximum speed, then it is pushed to the left Its speed decreases gradually until it reaches its maximum altitude to the left, at which point its speed becomes second zero. Then the process is repeated from left to right until it reaches the highest point to the right and its speed becomes zero, and so on. The motion and position energies of the pendulum change all the time, but their sum remains the same. At the highest point to the right or the highest point to the left - when the pendulum is moving and its velocity reaches zero - here the energy of its position is equal to its total energy, (since the energy of motion depends on the velocity of the object, and if the object is stationary, its energy of motion is zero). Then, at both upper points (right or left), the potential energy turns into motion energy, so we find the pendulum increases in speed in the direction of the lower midpoint, and at that point the energy of the position of the pendulum has all been converted into kinetic energy.

Exploitation of potential energy to generate electricity:

Dams are generally used to retain water and generate electricity. The enormous potential energy stored in rivers behind dams is used to generate electric power in hydroelectric plants. In these stations, the potential energy of the water is first converted into kinetic energy when the water falls from the top, and it turns our turbine, which in turn turns a generator of electricity, and thus we obtain the electrical energy that we use to light houses and operate factories.