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Kineticenergy
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inphysics,thekineticenergyofanobjectistheenergy
thatitpossessesduetoitsmotion.[1]Itisdefinedasthe
workneededtoaccelerateabodyofagivenmassfrom
resttoitsstatedvelocity.Havinggainedthisenergy
duringitsacceleration,thebodymaintainsthiskinetic
energyunlessitsspeedchanges.Thesameamountof
workisdonebythebodyindeceleratingfromits
currentspeedtoastateofrest.

Kineticenergy

Inclassicalmechanics,thekineticenergyofanon
rotatingobjectofmassmtravelingataspeedvis
.
Inrelativisticmechanics,thisisagoodapproximation
onlywhenvismuchlessthanthespeedoflight.
Thestandardunitofkineticenergyisthejoule.

Contents
1 Historyandetymology
2 Introduction
3 Newtoniankineticenergy
3.1 Kineticenergyofrigidbodies
3.1.1 Derivation
3.2 Rotatingbodies

Thecarsofarollercoasterreachtheirmaximum
kineticenergywhenatthebottomoftheirpath.
Whentheystartrising,thekineticenergybeginsto
beconvertedtogravitationalpotentialenergy.The
sumofkineticandpotentialenergyinthesystem
remainsconstant,ignoringlossestofriction.
Commonsymbols

KE,Ek,orT

SIunit

joule(J)

Derivationsfrom
otherquantities

Ek=mv2
Ek=Et+Er

3.3 Kineticenergyofsystems
3.4 Frameofreference
3.5 Rotationinsystems
4 Relativistickineticenergyofrigidbodies
4.1 Generalrelativity
5 Kineticenergyinquantummechanics
6 Seealso
7 Notes
8 References
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Historyandetymology
TheadjectivekinetichasitsrootsintheGreekwordkinesis,meaning"motion".Thedichotomy
betweenkineticenergyandpotentialenergycanbetracedbacktoAristotle'sconceptsofactualityand
potentiality.
TheprincipleinclassicalmechanicsthatEmvwasfirstdevelopedbyGottfriedLeibnizandJohann
Bernoulli,whodescribedkineticenergyasthelivingforce,visviva.Willem'sGravesandeofthe
Netherlandsprovidedexperimentalevidenceofthisrelationship.Bydroppingweightsfromdifferent
heightsintoablockofclay,Willem'sGravesandedeterminedthattheirpenetrationdepthwas
proportionaltothesquareoftheirimpactspeed.milieduChteletrecognizedtheimplicationsofthe
experimentandpublishedanexplanation.[2]
Thetermskineticenergyandworkintheirpresentscientificmeaningsdatebacktothemid19thcentury.
EarlyunderstandingsoftheseideascanbeattributedtoGaspardGustaveCoriolis,whoin1829published
thepapertitledDuCalculdel'EffetdesMachinesoutliningthemathematicsofkineticenergy.William
Thomson,laterLordKelvin,isgiventhecreditforcoiningtheterm"kineticenergy"c.184951.[3][4]

Introduction
Energyoccursinmanyforms,includingchemicalenergy,thermalenergy,electromagneticradiation,
gravitationalenergy,electricenergy,elasticenergy,nuclearenergy,andrestenergy.Thesecanbe
categorizedintwomainclasses:potentialenergyandkineticenergy.Kineticenergyisthemovement
energyofanobject.
Kineticenergymaybebestunderstoodbyexamplesthatdemonstratehowitistransformedtoandfrom
otherformsofenergy.Forexample,acyclistuseschemicalenergyprovidedbyfoodtoacceleratea
bicycletoachosenspeed.Onalevelsurface,thisspeedcanbemaintainedwithoutfurtherwork,exceptto
overcomeairresistanceandfriction.Thechemicalenergyhasbeenconvertedintokineticenergy,the
energyofmotion,buttheprocessisnotcompletelyefficientandproducesheatwithinthecyclist.
Thekineticenergyinthemovingcyclistandthebicyclecanbeconvertedtootherforms.Forexample,the
cyclistcouldencounterahilljusthighenoughtocoastup,sothatthebicyclecomestoacompletehaltat
thetop.Thekineticenergyhasnowlargelybeenconvertedtogravitationalpotentialenergythatcanbe
releasedbyfreewheelingdowntheothersideofthehill.Sincethebicyclelostsomeofitsenergyto
friction,itneverregainsallofitsspeedwithoutadditionalpedaling.Theenergyisnotdestroyedithas
onlybeenconvertedtoanotherformbyfriction.Alternativelythecyclistcouldconnectadynamotoone
ofthewheelsandgeneratesomeelectricalenergyonthedescent.Thebicyclewouldbetravelingslowerat
thebottomofthehillthanwithoutthegeneratorbecausesomeoftheenergyhasbeendivertedinto
electricalenergy.Anotherpossibilitywouldbeforthecyclisttoapplythebrakes,inwhichcasethekinetic
energywouldbedissipatedthroughfrictionasheat.
Likeanyphysicalquantitythatisafunctionofvelocity,thekineticenergyofanobjectdependsonthe
relationshipbetweentheobjectandtheobserver'sframeofreference.Thus,thekineticenergyofanobject
isnotinvariant.
Spacecraftusechemicalenergytolaunchandgainconsiderablekineticenergytoreachorbitalvelocity.In
aperfectlycircularorbit,thiskineticenergyremainsconstantbecausethereisalmostnofrictioninnear
earthspace.Howeveritbecomesapparentatreentrywhensomeofthekineticenergyisconvertedtoheat.
Iftheorbitisellipticalorhyperbolic,thenthroughouttheorbitkineticandpotentialenergyareexchanged
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kineticenergyisgreatestandpotentialenergylowestatclosestapproachtotheearthorothermassive
body,whilepotentialenergyisgreatestandkineticenergythelowestatmaximumdistance.Withoutloss
orgain,however,thesumofthekineticandpotentialenergyremainsconstant.
Kineticenergycanbepassedfromoneobjecttoanother.Inthegameofbilliards,theplayerimposes
kineticenergyonthecueballbystrikingitwiththecuestick.Ifthecueballcollideswithanotherball,it
slowsdowndramaticallyandtheballitcollidedwithacceleratestoaspeedasthekineticenergyispassed
ontoit.Collisionsinbilliardsareeffectivelyelasticcollisions,inwhichkineticenergyispreserved.In
inelasticcollisions,kineticenergyisdissipatedinvariousformsofenergy,suchasheat,sound,binding
energy(breakingboundstructures).
Flywheelshavebeendevelopedasamethodofenergystorage.Thisillustratesthatkineticenergyisalso
storedinrotationalmotion.
Severalmathematicaldescriptionsofkineticenergyexistthatdescribeitintheappropriatephysical
situation.Forobjectsandprocessesincommonhumanexperience,theformulamvgivenbyNewtonian
(classical)mechanicsissuitable.However,ifthespeedoftheobjectiscomparabletothespeedoflight,
relativisticeffectsbecomesignificantandtherelativisticformulaisused.Iftheobjectisontheatomicor
subatomicscale,quantummechanicaleffectsaresignificantandaquantummechanicalmodelmustbe
employed.

Newtoniankineticenergy
Kineticenergyofrigidbodies
Inclassicalmechanics,thekineticenergyofapointobject(anobjectsosmallthatitsmasscanbeassumed
toexistatonepoint),oranonrotatingrigidbodydependsonthemassofthebodyaswellasitsspeed.
Thekineticenergyisequalto1/2theproductofthemassandthesquareofthespeed.Informulaform:

where isthemassand isthespeed(orthevelocity)ofthebody.InSIunits(usedformostmodern

scientificwork),massismeasuredinkilograms,speedinmetrespersecond,andtheresultingkinetic
energyisinjoules.
Forexample,onewouldcalculatethekineticenergyofan80kgmass(about180lbs)travelingat
18metrespersecond(about40mph,or65km/h)as

Whenyouthrowaball,youdoworkonittogiveitspeedasitleavesyourhand.Themovingballcanthen
hitsomethingandpushit,doingworkonwhatithits.Thekineticenergyofamovingobjectisequaltothe
workrequiredtobringitfromresttothatspeed,ortheworktheobjectcandowhilebeingbroughttorest:
netforcedisplacement=kineticenergy,i.e.,

Sincethekineticenergyincreaseswiththesquareofthespeed,anobjectdoublingitsspeedhasfourtimes
asmuchkineticenergy.Forexample,acartravelingtwiceasfastasanotherrequiresfourtimesasmuch
distancetostop,assumingaconstantbrakingforce.Asaconsequenceofthisquadrupling,ittakesfour
timestheworktodoublethespeed.
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Thekineticenergyofanobjectisrelatedtoitsmomentumbytheequation:

where:
ismomentum
ismassofthebody
Forthetranslationalkineticenergy,thatisthekineticenergyassociatedwithrectilinearmotion,ofarigid
bodywithconstantmass ,whosecenterofmassismovinginastraightlinewithspeed ,asseenabove
isequalto

where:
isthemassofthebody
isthespeedofthecenterofmassofthebody.
Thekineticenergyofanyentitydependsonthereferenceframeinwhichitismeasured.Howeverthetotal
energyofanisolatedsystem,i.e.oneinwhichenergycanneitherenternorleave,doesnotchangeover
timeinthereferenceframeinwhichitismeasured.Thus,thechemicalenergyconvertedtokineticenergy
byarocketengineisdivideddifferentlybetweentherocketshipanditsexhauststreamdependingupon
thechosenreferenceframe.ThisiscalledtheObertheffect.Butthetotalenergyofthesystem,including
kineticenergy,fuelchemicalenergy,heat,etc.,isconservedovertime,regardlessofthechoiceof
referenceframe.Differentobserversmovingwithdifferentreferenceframeswouldhoweverdisagreeon
thevalueofthisconservedenergy.
Thekineticenergyofsuchsystemsdependsonthechoiceofreferenceframe:thereferenceframethat
givestheminimumvalueofthatenergyisthecenterofmomentumframe,i.e.thereferenceframein
whichthetotalmomentumofthesystemiszero.Thisminimumkineticenergycontributestotheinvariant
massofthesystemasawhole.
Derivation
Theworkdoneinacceleratingaparticleduringtheinfinitesimaltimeintervaldtisgivenbythedot
productofforceanddisplacement:

wherewehaveassumedtherelationshipp=mv.(However,alsoseethespecialrelativisticderivation
below.)
Applyingtheproductruleweseethat:

Therefore(assumingconstantmasssothatdm=0),thefollowingcanbeseen:

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Sincethisisatotaldifferential(thatis,itonlydependsonthefinalstate,nothowtheparticlegotthere),
wecanintegrateitandcalltheresultkineticenergy.Assumingtheobjectwasatrestattime0,we
integratefromtime0totimetbecausetheworkdonebytheforcetobringtheobjectfromresttovelocity
visequaltotheworknecessarytodothereverse:

Thisequationstatesthatthekineticenergy(Ek)isequaltotheintegralofthedotproductofthevelocity
(v)ofabodyandtheinfinitesimalchangeofthebody'smomentum(p).Itisassumedthatthebodystarts
withnokineticenergywhenitisatrest(motionless).

Rotatingbodies
IfarigidbodyQisrotatingaboutanylinethroughthecenterofmassthenithasrotationalkineticenergy(
)whichissimplythesumofthekineticenergiesofitsmovingparts,andisthusgivenby:

where:
isthebody'sangularvelocity
risthedistanceofanymassdmfromthatline
isthebody'smomentofinertia,equalto

(Inthisequationthemomentofinertiamustbetakenaboutanaxisthroughthecenterofmassandthe
rotationmeasuredbymustbearoundthataxismoregeneralequationsexistforsystemswherethe
objectissubjecttowobbleduetoitseccentricshape).

Kineticenergyofsystems
Asystemofbodiesmayhaveinternalkineticenergyduetotherelativemotionofthebodiesinthesystem.
Forexample,intheSolarSystemtheplanetsandplanetoidsareorbitingtheSun.Inatankofgas,the
moleculesaremovinginalldirections.Thekineticenergyofthesystemisthesumofthekineticenergies
ofthebodiesitcontains.
Amacroscopicbodythatisstationary(i.e.areferenceframehasbeenchosentocorrespondtothebody's
centerofmomentum)mayhavevariouskindsofinternalenergyatthemolecularoratomiclevel,which
mayberegardedaskineticenergy,duetomoleculartranslation,rotation,andvibration,electron
translationandspin,andnuclearspin.Theseallcontributetothebody'smass,asprovidedbythespecial
theoryofrelativity.Whendiscussingmovementsofamacroscopicbody,thekineticenergyreferredtois
usuallythatofthemacroscopicmovementonly.Howeverallinternalenergiesofalltypescontributeto
body'smass,inertia,andtotalenergy.

Frameofreference
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Thespeed,andthusthekineticenergyofasingleobjectisframedependent(relative):itcantakeanynon
negativevalue,bychoosingasuitableinertialframeofreference.Forexample,abulletpassingan
observerhaskineticenergyinthereferenceframeofthisobserver.Thesamebulletisstationaryfromthe
pointofviewofanobservermovingwiththesamevelocityasthebullet,andsohaszerokineticenergy.[5]
Bycontrast,thetotalkineticenergyofasystemofobjectscannotbereducedtozerobyasuitablechoice
oftheinertialreferenceframe,unlessalltheobjectshavethesamevelocity.Inanyothercasethetotal
kineticenergyhasanonzerominimum,asnoinertialreferenceframecanbechoseninwhichallthe
objectsarestationary.Thisminimumkineticenergycontributestothesystem'sinvariantmass,whichis
independentofthereferenceframe.
Thetotalkineticenergyofasystemdependsontheinertialframeofreference:itisthesumofthetotal
kineticenergyinacenterofmomentumframeandthekineticenergythetotalmasswouldhaveifitwere
concentratedinthecenterofmass.
Thismaybesimplyshown:let
Since
,

However,let

betherelativevelocityofthecenterofmassframeiintheframek.

thekineticenergyinthecenterofmassframe,

wouldbesimply

thetotalmomentumthatisbydefinitionzerointhecenterofmassframe,andletthetotalmass:
.Substituting,weget:[6]

Thusthekineticenergyofasystemislowestwithrespecttocenterofmomentumreferenceframes,i.e.,
framesofreferenceinwhichthecenterofmassisstationary(eitherthecenterofmassframeoranyother
centerofmomentumframe).Inanyotherframeofreferencethereisadditionalkineticenergy
correspondingtothetotalmassmovingatthespeedofthecenterofmass.Thekineticenergyofthe
systeminthecenterofmomentumframeisaquantitythatisbothinvariant(allobserversseeittobethe
same)andisconserved(inanisolatedsystem,itcannotchangevalue,nomatterwhathappensinsidethe
system).

Rotationinsystems
Itsometimesisconvenienttosplitthetotalkineticenergyofabodyintothesumofthebody'scenterof
masstranslationalkineticenergyandtheenergyofrotationaroundthecenterofmass(rotationalenergy):

where:
Ekisthetotalkineticenergy
Etisthetranslationalkineticenergy
Eristherotationalenergyorangularkineticenergyintherestframe

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Thusthekineticenergyofatennisballinflightisthekineticenergyduetoitsrotation,plusthekinetic
energyduetoitstranslation.

Relativistickineticenergyofrigidbodies
Seealso:MassinspecialrelativityandTestsofrelativisticenergyandmomentum
Ifabody'sspeedisasignificantfractionofthespeedoflight,itisnecessarytouserelativisticmechanics
tocalculateitskineticenergy.Inspecialrelativitytheory,theexpressionforlinearmomentumismodified.
Withmbeinganobject'srestmass,vandvitsvelocityandspeed,andcthespeedoflightinvacuum,we
usetheexpressionforlinearmomentum
,where
.
Integratingbypartsyields

Since

isaconstantofintegrationfortheindefiniteintegral.Simplifyingtheexpressionweobtain

isfoundbyobservingthatwhen

and

,giving

resultingintheformula

Thisformulashowsthattheworkexpendedacceleratinganobjectfromrestapproachesinfinityasthe
velocityapproachesthespeedoflight.Thusitisimpossibletoaccelerateanobjectacrossthisboundary.
Themathematicalbyproductofthiscalculationisthemassenergyequivalenceformulathebodyatrest
musthaveenergycontent

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Atalowspeed( << ),therelativistickineticenergyisapproximatedwellbytheclassicalkineticenergy.

ThisisdonebybinomialapproximationorbytakingthefirsttwotermsoftheTaylorexpansionforthe
reciprocalsquareroot:

So,thetotalenergy
lowspeeds.

canbepartitionedintotherestmassenergyplustheNewtoniankineticenergyat

Whenobjectsmoveataspeedmuchslowerthanlight(e.g.ineverydayphenomenaonEarth),thefirsttwo
termsoftheseriespredominate.ThenexttermintheTaylorseriesapproximation

issmallforlowspeeds.Forexample,foraspeedof10km/s(22,000mph)thecorrectiontotheNewtonian
kineticenergyis0.0417J/kg(onaNewtoniankineticenergyof50MJ/kg)andforaspeedof100km/sit
is417J/kg(onaNewtoniankineticenergyof5GJ/kg).
Therelativisticrelationbetweenkineticenergyandmomentumisgivenby

ThiscanalsobeexpandedasaTaylorseries,thefirsttermofwhichisthesimpleexpressionfrom
Newtonianmechanics.
Whatthissuggestsisthattheformulaeforenergyandmomentumarenotspecialandaxiomatic,butrather
conceptsthatemergefromtheequivalenceofmassandenergyandtheprinciplesofrelativity.

Generalrelativity
Seealso:Schwarzschildgeodesics
Usingtheconventionthat

wherethefourvelocityofaparticleis

and isthepropertimeoftheparticle,thereisalsoanexpressionforthekineticenergyoftheparticlein
generalrelativity.
Iftheparticlehasmomentum

asitpassesbyanobserverwithfourvelocityuobs,thentheexpressionfortotalenergyoftheparticleas
observed(measuredinalocalinertialframe)is
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andthekineticenergycanbeexpressedasthetotalenergyminustherestenergy:

Considerthecaseofametricthatisdiagonalandspatiallyisotropic(gtt,gss,gss,gss).Since

wherevistheordinaryvelocitymeasuredw.r.t.thecoordinatesystem,weget

Solvingforutgives

Thusforastationaryobserver(v=0)

andthusthekineticenergytakestheform

Factoringouttherestenergygives:

Thisexpressionreducestothespecialrelativisticcasefortheflatspacemetricwhere

IntheNewtonianapproximationtogeneralrelativity

whereistheNewtoniangravitationalpotential.Thismeansclocksrunslowerandmeasuringrodsare
shorternearmassivebodies.

Kineticenergyinquantummechanics
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Furtherinformation:Hamiltonian(quantummechanics)
Inquantummechanics,observableslikekineticenergyarerepresentedasoperators.Foroneparticleof
massm,thekineticenergyoperatorappearsasatermintheHamiltonianandisdefinedintermsofthe
morefundamentalmomentumoperator as

Noticethatthiscanbeobtainedbyreplacing by intheclassicalexpressionforkineticenergyinterms
ofmomentum,

IntheSchrdingerpicture, takestheform
coordinatesandhence

wherethederivativeistakenwithrespecttoposition

Theexpectationvalueoftheelectronkineticenergy,
,forasystemofNelectronsdescribedbythe
wavefunction isasumof1electronoperatorexpectationvalues:

where

isthemassoftheelectronand

istheLaplacianoperatoractinguponthecoordinatesofthe

ithelectronandthesummationrunsoverallelectrons.
Thedensityfunctionalformalismofquantummechanicsrequiresknowledgeoftheelectrondensityonly,
i.e.,itformallydoesnotrequireknowledgeofthewavefunction.Givenanelectrondensity
,theexact
Nelectronkineticenergyfunctionalisunknownhowever,forthespecificcaseofa1electronsystem,the
kineticenergycanbewrittenas

where

isknownasthevonWeizsckerkineticenergyfunctional.

Seealso
Escapevelocity
Joule
KEMunitions
Kineticenergyperunitmassofprojectiles
Kineticprojectile
Parallelaxistheorem
Potentialenergy
Recoil
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Notes
1. Jain,MaheshC.(2009).TextbookofEngineeringPhysics(PartI).PHILearningPvt.Ltd.p.9.ISBN81203
38626.,Chapter1,p.9(http://books.google.com/books?id=DqZlU3RJTywC&pg=PA9)
2. JudithP.Zinsser(2007).EmilieduChatelet:DaringGeniusoftheEnlightenment.Penguin.ISBN014
3112686.
3. CrosbieSmith,M.NortonWise.EnergyandEmpire:ABiographicalStudyofLordKelvin.Cambridge
UniversityPress.p.866.ISBN0521261732.
4. JohnTheodoreMerz(1912).AHistoryofEuropeanThoughtintheNineteenthCentury.Blackwood.p.139.
ISBN0844625795.
5. Sears,FrancisWestonBrehme,RobertW.(1968).Introductiontothetheoryofrelativity.AddisonWesley.
p.127.,Snippetviewofpage127(http://books.google.com/books?
ei=uLlaTKiSF5DuOaqf3JYP&ct=result&id=cpzvAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22in+its+own+rest+frame%22+%22kinet
ic+energy%22&q=%22in+its+own+rest+frame%22)
6. PhysicsnotesKineticenergyintheCMframe
(http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Class/intro_physics_1/intro_physics_1/node64.html).Duke.edu.Accessed2007
1124.

References
PhysicsClassroom(2000)."KineticEnergy".Retrieved20150719.
OxfordDictionary1998
SchoolofMathematicsandStatistics,UniversityofStAndrews(2000)."BiographyofGaspard
GustavedeCoriolis(17921843)".Retrieved20060303.
Serway,RaymondA.Jewett,JohnW.(2004).PhysicsforScientistsandEngineers(6thed.).
Brooks/Cole.ISBN0534408427.
Tipler,Paul(2004).PhysicsforScientistsandEngineers:Mechanics,OscillationsandWaves,
Thermodynamics(5thed.).W.H.Freeman.ISBN0716708094.
Tipler,PaulLlewellyn,Ralph(2002).ModernPhysics(4thed.).W.H.Freeman.ISBN07167
43450.
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