Work-Energy Theorem and Energy Conservation

A. Salih
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram
– September 2013 –

Work-Energy Theorem
The kinetic energy of a particle of mass m, moving with a speed v, is defined as
1 2
T = mv . (1)
2
Let us consider a particle that moves from point 1 to point 2 under the action of a force F. The
total work done on the particle by the force as the particle moves from 1 to 2 is, by definition,
the line integral Z 2
W12 = F · ds (2)
1
where ds = v dt is the displacement vector along the particle’s trajectory. If the particle under-
goes an infinitesimal displacement ds under the action of force F, the scalar product

dW = F · ds (3)

is the infinitesimal work done by the force F as the particle undergoes the displacement ds
along the particle’s trajectory. We use the Newton’s second law of motion
d(mv)
F =
dt
in the equation (3) to obtain an expression for the infinitesimal work
   
d(mv) d 1 1 2
dW = · v dt = mv · v dt = d mv .
dt dt 2 2
Since the scalar quantity 12 mv2 is the kinetic energy of the particle, it follows that

dW = dT. (4)

Equation (4) is the differential form of the work-energy theorem: It states that the differential
work of the resultant of forces acting on a particle is equal, at any time, to the differential
change in the kinetic energy of the particle. Integrating equation (4) between point 1 and point
2, corresponding to the velocities v1 and v2 of the particle, we get
Z 2 Z 2
1 2 1 2
W12 = dW = dT = T2 − T1 = mv − mv . (5)
1 1 2 2 2 1

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This is the work-energy theorem, which states that the work done by the resultant force F
acting on a particle as it move from point 1 to point 2 along its trajectory is equal to the
change in the kinetic energy (T2 − T1 ) of the particle during the given displacement. When
the body is accelerated by the resultant force, the work done on the body can be considered a
transfer of energy to the body, where it is stored as kinetic energy.

Energy Conservation Theorem

If there exists a scalar function φ (x, y, z,t), so that we could write

F = ∇φ (6)

we shall say that the vector field F is a potential field. The scalar function φ (x, y, z,t) is then
called the potential function of the field. The vector field F is called conservative if φ does
not explicitly depend on time. The potential function φ (x, y, z), in this case, is called the force
potential.
It is easy to show that if the force field is conservative the work done in moving the particle
from 1 to 2 is independent of the path connecting 1 and 2. From equation (2), the total work
done on the particle by the force F as it moves from 1 to 2 is given by
Z 2
W12 = F · ds.
1

Then, for a conservative force field we have

dφ
Z 2 Z 2 Z 2 Z 2
W12 = F · ds = ∇φ · ds = ds = d φ = φ2 − φ1 . (7)
1 1 1 ds 1

Thus, the total work done is equal to the difference in force potential no matter how the particle
moves from 1 to 2. We also have the following differential relation

dW = F · ds = d φ . (8)

If we now write φ (x, y, z) = −U (x, y, z) (inserting a minus sign for reasons of convention)
and express the force as
F = −∇U (9)

then the scalar function U is called the potential energy of the particle. When F is expressed
as in the above equation, the work done becomes

W12 = U1 − U2 . (10)

That is, the total work done is equal to the difference in potential energy (U1 −U2 ) no matter
how the particle moves from 1 to 2.

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 It may be noted that the line integral of the field F = −∇U along a closed curve (called
circulation) is zero as shown below:
I I
F · ds = − dU = 0.
C C

Comparing equations (5) and (10), it can be concluded that T1 + U1 = T2 + U2 . It says that
the quantity T +U remains a constant as the particle moves from point 1 to point 2. Since 1
and 2 are arbitrary points, we have obtained the statement of conservation of total mechanical
energy
E = T + U = constant. (11)

Thus, the energy conservation theorem states that the total energy of a particle in a conservative
force field is constant.
It is instructive to note that equation (6) does not uniquely determine the function φ . We
could as well define F = ∇φ + c, where c is any constant. Hence, the choice for the zero level
of φ , and consequently U , is arbitrary.
We can verify directly from equation (11) that the total energy in a conservative field is a
constant of the motion. We have
dE dT dU
= + .
dt dt dt
The kinetic energy term can be written as

dT 1 dv2 dv
= m = m · v = F · v.
dt 2 dt dt
The potential energy U depends on time only through the changing position of the particle:
U = U (s(t)) = U (x(t), y(t), z(t)). Thus, we have

dU ∂ U dx ∂ U dy ∂ U dz
= + + = ∇U · v = −F · v.
dt ∂ x dt ∂ y dt ∂ z dt
It follows that
dE
= F · v − F · v = 0.
dt
Thus, the total energy of the particle moving in a conservative force field is a constant during
the motion.

Force-potential energy relation

Let us consider a conservative force

F = Fx î + Fy ĵ + Fz k̂.

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We then have
F = ∇φ = −∇U.

Therefore, we have the following relations:

∂φ ∂U ∂φ ∂U ∂φ ∂U
Fx = =− Fy = =− Fz = =− (12)
∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂z ∂z
, , .

This shows that the partial derivative of force potential in a given direction gives the force in
that direction. An example of a force that derives from a potential is gravitational force

F g = −∇U

which leads to the following equations

∂U ∂U ∂U
mgx = − mgy = − mgz = − (13)
∂x ∂y ∂z
, , ,

where the gravitational acceleration vector g = (gx , gy , gz ). It follows that the negative of
partial derivative of potential energy in a given direction gives the gravitational force in that
direction.
If gravitational acceleration vector is given by

g = g(0, 0, −1)

then we have
∂U ∂U ∂U
0=− 0=− − mg = − (14)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Integrating the last of the above equation to obtain

U = mgz + f (x, y).

Setting f (x, y) = 0, the potential energy of the particle in a gravitational field is given by

U = mgz

where g acts in the negative z direction. The total mechanical energy E is conserved when a
particle moves under the action of the gravitational field.

Non-conservative force

An example of a force that does not derive from a potential is the frictional force F fr = −kv,
where k is the coefficient of friction. This force acts in the direction opposite to the particle’s
motion and is responsible for the drag force. The frictional force cannot be expressed as the
gradient of a scalar function. This implies that in the presence of a frictional force, the total

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mechanical energy of a particle E is not conserved. The reason is that the friction causes
the mechanical energy E to transform into heat. Energy conservation as a whole, of course,
applies, i.e., the amount by which E decreases matches the amount of heat dissipated into the
environment.
It is instructive to note that the work-energy theorem given by equation (5) is always true,
whether or not the force F derives from a potential.