Conservation of Mechanical Energy

Fundamental Physics

How It Works

The law of conservation of mechanical energy states that in an isolated conservative system, total mechanical energy (E = K + U) is constant over time. In a swinging gravitational pendulum, potential energy is completely converted into kinetic energy at the equilibrium nadir and regenerated at the oscillation extrema with zero dissipation.

Governing Equation
E_{total} = K + U = 1 / 2 · m · v^2 + m · g · h = constant