In layman's terms, what is the difference between Potential and Kinetic energy?

Answer 1

Think of the water storage tank which is at the top of any multistoried building and a well in a garden.

To trap water it is enough to open a tap whereas in the well you have to pump it up or use some energy.

The water in the tank has high potential energy. We can extract energy from it.
The well requires energy to bring water to the ground level. It has negative potential energy (less than zero). In the ground level we need neither to give nor to take energy. It has zero potential energy.

Higher the level of water, high is the speed of water that is flowing in a given pipe.

The flowing water is said to possess kinetic energy. Higher is the speed high its kinetic energy. The water gets its kinetic energy because initially it had some potential energy.

Speed of water will be less through the same pipe if the tank was at a very low height.

Kinetic energy is gained by the loss of potential energy.

In toy motors, which work on winding a spring is another example.

We wind the spring; we are giving energy to the spring. The energy is stored in it.

When released the car sets in motion. Motion implies it possesses kinetic energy.

The kinetic energy is gained by the loss of potential energy.

Answer 2

Potential energy = stored energy, has the potential to transfer the energy into another form. Can be gravitational, electrical, elastic.

Kinetic energy = energy involved in motion, when something moves over a distance, accelerates, blasts off etc.

Answer 3

potential energy is the energy stored in an object, eg the energy a rock has at the top of a cliff. Kinetic is the energy of motion, ie the energy the rock has after it's fallen off a cliff & just before it hits the ground below

Answer 4

Potential Energy is energy of position. Kinetic Energy is energy of motion. Both are "mechanical energy" and each can be transformed into the other without loss.

Answer 5

Potential energy depends from the place the object is loceted. If we talk about gravity then potential energy is m*g*h (mass of the object, g=10m/s^2 constant, h the height where the object is) so the heigher from the ground it is the more potential energy it has.

Kinetic energy depends from the speed of an object. The faster it goes the more kinetic energy.

Answer 6

Anything that is moving has kinetic energy. It is the energy required to get the object up to speed. You can recover that energy as the object slows down again.

A particle in a conservative force field (like gravity or electrostatic or spring) has a potential energy based on its position. It takes (or releases) a certain amount of energy to get from your reference point (zero potential) to any given point. You get (or give) that energy back when you go back to the reference point. That energy is called potential energy.

Answer 7

PE is the latent capability to do work or cause a change. KE is the actual capability to do work or cause a change due to motion (i.e., velocity) of a mass.

As indicated in other answers, PE comes in many forms: position relative to a force field (like gravity or electro static), tension or compression (like a spring), chemical (like gunpowder or gasoline), and so on. But they all have one thing in common, they can be converted into useful energy for doing work or causing a change.

One form of useful energy is KE. A fly wheel, for example, has KE as it spins around. By engaging the fly wheel with the engine of an old-time propeller aircraft, the KE of the fly wheel can be used to "turn over" the engine and start the aircraft. [Did this in the Navy's old bi-wing N3N aircraft; it used a fly wheel to start the engine.]

Thus, in lay person's terms: PE is yet unrealized capability that has potential for doing work or causing a change; while KE is realized capability from motion that can do work if applied to a work situation (like starting the N3N).

Answer 8

Simple.

Kinetic energy is the energy of moving objects.
Potential energy is the stored in an object.

Answer 9

PE= mass x gravity x height
Potential energy is energy of position or stored energy.
It is energy in a water tower, in water behind a falls, in a battery, in a coiled spring, in a pulled bow for an arrow
Kinetic energy is energy of motion.
KE=1/2 mass x velocity squared
electrons running in a wire, running water, a man running, movement in gears , wind energy, etc

Answer 10

potential energy is the energy of position or condition,but kinetic energy is the energy in use or energy of motion.