ENERGY DEFINITIONS
In addition to understanding how power and electricity is measured, e.g. watts, it is also advantageous to understand different types of energy.
Terminology
| Potential energy | Equal to stored energy and in hydropower this is proportional to the height above ground. |
| Kinetic energy | Equal to the energy of motion and is proportional to the velocity. |
Creating kinetic energy
- A ball resting at the top of an incline has no motion and thus no kinetic energy.
- With a little push, the ball rolls down the incline, picking up speed as it rolls.
- At the bottom, the ball has its highest speed but can fall no further.
- This is an example of converting potential energy to kinetic energy. (See Figure 6.4).
Figure 6.4 Converting potential ...
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