What is a good example of the Law of Conservation of Energy?

Question

the law - energy cannot be created nor destroyed under normal conditions; it can change form.
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What would be a good example of this type? A a link to a picture would be great to have (bonus points)!

Answer 1

Well a very very simplistic demonstration could be shown on a pool table.

If you shoot the cue ball at a stationary ball (let's call it the 8 ball) across the table, the cue ball has Kinetic Energy, where as, the 8 ball has only potential energy.

When the cue ball collides with the 8 ball, the kinetic energy will transfer from the cue ball to the 8 ball, sending the 8 ball in motion. Now that the 8 ball is in motion it has Kinetic energy which is a change of form.

The Law of Conservation of energy says that energy cannot be created. So what does that mean? It means that if the 8 ball is now in motion, it took energy from the cue ball, which means that the cue ball has now lost energy, and will be traveling slower, and if they hit at the right spot (since they are approximately equal in mass) the cue ball can even come to a complete stop upon collision.

Hope I didn't lose you!

~~Tyler


Also, an easier example would be a monkey falling out of a tree.

If the monkey is sitting down eating a banana on the highest branch, he has Potential energy. If he reaches for another banana and it's just out of his reach and he slips off of the branch, his potential energy is now being converted into kinetic energy.

Hopefully theres a pile of leaves on the ground.

Answer 2

All answers given so far are correct. But one must wonder why students really seek for the examples of this fundamental law. In school textbooks, this law is proved for a freely falling body. One must understand that is no proof at all. Because you define kinetic energy in a particular way through work energy theorem and that definition it self put in a different setting becomes the so called proof. This is termed as Conservation of mechanical energy. Then in actual life one finds that a ball falling downward on a hard floor does not really rise back to the same height. Even if you make accurate measurement on the kinetic energy of the falling body by measuring its velocity you may find that it is not equal to mgh, where h is the height through which it has fallen. So one has to really see where the energy has gone and one states that the surrounding air offers some resistance and the energy has gone in increasing its internal energy by raising its temeprature. So here we get the generalised form of law of conservation of energy. Again no proof, A most probale convenient preposition. But for the development of the theory this is found to be very fundamental all reaching conservation law after incorporating mass energy equivalence given by Einstein and is also related with time translation symmetry, meaning that whatever laws of the world are they would be same after some time. The whole of physics considers this as a sacrsoanct law and it has been consistent so far with all theories and experiemnts. So in fact one should not look for its example one should try to see where it is not obeyed!

Answer 3

It would be Power rather than Energy which is self existing in space and out of Power and Time of its appliction energy is borne. Just like an airplain is airborne so is energy. Its only a process.Out of a process many responses result and that is what you call the forms of energy.
This is so because a Unified theory of forces does exist. Yet they do not Understand it.
The law of conservation really stems out of the laws of thermodynamics which is short says; if you want something you have to pay a price for it.= "you get nothing for nothing". A good example is when you go to the store and you want a cake so you telll the cashier I want this cake and the cashier would say ;you can have it but first let me have the money so so can pay the price for it.After you pay you now have a cake that you can eat. A simple explanation is always the best explanation.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is a good example of the Law of Conservation of Energy?
the law - energy cannot be created nor destroyed under normal conditions; it can change form.
=============================================
What would be a good example of this type? A a link to a picture would be great to have (bonus points)!

Answer 5

Conservation of Energy
Conservation laws are the cornerstone of physics. Some examples are energy conservation, momentum conservation, angular momentum conservation, charge conservation, baryon number conservation...

A quantity that is conserved is one that does not change as a function of time.
The law of conservation of energy states:

The total energy of an isolated system is always conserved.

Answer 6

The easiest is a roller-coaster like set of ramps which you can make or buy. The ref. page below shows one that they sell and explains the conservation principles it illustrates. Of course you never get back all of the energy you input but with a smooth surface and good wheels the car should end up at pretty close to the height it started at.

Answer 7

i think a good example is a locomotive...the energy of the sun is stored via photosynthesis into plant materials, which formed thick matts of peat, and over millenia, eventually the peat was turned to coal...every pound of coal still contains all the energy put into it by the sun...when the coal is burned..oxygen combines with the carbon in an exothermic reaction which releases the energy in the form of heat...heat raises the temperature of the water in the boiler, which in turn boils...the steam pressure that builds up turns the turbine engine, converting part of the heat energy to mechanical force which moves the locomotive....most of the energy is lost in heat, but all of the energy is conserved over the many millenia, and tracable back to the sun

Answer 8

almost everything you can think of or see is conserving energy and changing forms also.... when you turn on a flash light.. the battery sends electric energy as the elctrons are moving .. it heats up the filament of the bulb so some energy is being released as heat however most energy is being absorbed by the filament in the bult to release it in the form of light..
if u add the enrgy taken to release heat and energy to release light would add up to be the same enrgy provided by the battery..

Answer 9

I would say rubbing two sticks together.They make sparks and the energy changes form.Hope this helps.

Answer 10

a bat and ball is the good example