Mission WE9: Work-Energy Conversions

Mission WE9 focuses on situations in which the mechanical energy of an object is transformed into non-mechanical energy (or vice versa). You should know the conditions under which such energy transformations occur. The mission consists of 36 questions organized into 9 Question Groups. You must answer one question from each Question Group to complete the mission. The learning outcomes for this mission are ...
 

Learning Outcomes

• The student should be able to identify the conditions in which mechanical energy is not conserved and demonstrate an understanding of the distinction between energy conservation and non-conservation.
• The student should be able to apply the work-energy relationship to simple physical situations.

 

Launch Mission WE9

 

Getting Help

If you are not familiar with this topic, then you should first learn about the topic using our written Tutorial or our Video Tutorial:
 

The Physics Classroom - Work, Energy and Power Unit, Lesson 2, Part b
 

• What types of forces are internal (i.e., conservative) and what types are external (i.e., non-conservative)?
• Under what condition will the total mechanical energy of an object NOT be conserved?
• What is meant when it is said that the total mechanical energy of an object is NOT conserved?
• How would a work-energy bar chart illustrate the non-conservation of mechanical energy?
• How can a description of a physical situation allow one to predict if that the total mechanical energy of an object is NOT conserved?
• How can amount of work and energy be related in situations in which external (non-conservative) forces are doing work?
• How can the mass and speed of an object be related to its kinetic energy?

 

Video Tutorials:

Forces, Energy and System Analysis

External Energy Transfer

 

 

Question-Specific Help

Each Question Group has its own Help page with information specific to the question. You can access the Help page from within the mission by tapping on the Help Me! icon (textbook). For your convenience, links to those pages are provided below: