Thursday, September 20, 2007

Conservative forces

A force F is acting on an object.

If the work done by F to get from A to B is independent of the path, then F is a said to be a conservative force.

The force of gravity is a conservative force.

Gravitational force: mechanical work against it depends
just on difference in elevation not how an object is
lifted.

Elastic force: work against spring only depends on
length change.

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