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Mechanical energy
 
 
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In physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
, mechanical energy describes the potential energy
Potential energy

Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. It is called potential energy because it has the potential to be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, and to do Mechanical work in the process....
 and kinetic energy
Kinetic energy

The kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the mechanical work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its current velocity....
 present in the components of a mechanical system.
ntists make simplifying assumptions to make calculations about how mechanical systems react. For example, instead of calculating the mechanical energy separately for each of the billions of molecules in a soccer ball, it is easier to treat the entire ball as one object.






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In physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
, mechanical energy describes the potential energy
Potential energy

Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. It is called potential energy because it has the potential to be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, and to do Mechanical work in the process....
 and kinetic energy
Kinetic energy

The kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the mechanical work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its current velocity....
 present in the components of a mechanical system.

Simplifying assumptions

Scientists make simplifying assumptions to make calculations about how mechanical systems react. For example, instead of calculating the mechanical energy separately for each of the billions of molecules in a soccer ball, it is easier to treat the entire ball as one object. This means that only two numbers (one for kinetic mechanical energy, and one for potential mechanical energy) are needed for each dimension
Dimension

In mathematics, the dimension of a space is roughly defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify every point within it. For example: a point on the unit circle in the plane can be specified by two Cartesian coordinates but one can make do with a single coordinate , so the circle is 1-dimensional even though it exists in...
 (for example, up/down, north/south, east/west) under consideration.

To calculate the energy of a system without any simplifying assumptions would require examining the state of all elementary particle(s) and considering all four fundamental interaction
Fundamental interaction

In physics, a fundamental interaction or fundamental force is a process by which elementary particles interact with each other. An interaction is often described as a field , and is mediated by the exchange of gauge bosons between particles....
s). This is usually only done for very small systems, such as those studied in particle physics
Particle physics

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary particle constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them....
.

Distinguished from other types of energy

The classification of energy into different "types" often follows the boundaries of the fields of study in the natural sciences.

  • Chemical energy, the kind of potential energy
    Potential energy

    Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. It is called potential energy because it has the potential to be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, and to do Mechanical work in the process....
     stored in chemical bonds; studied in chemistry
    Chemistry

    Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
  • Nuclear energy
    Nuclear energy

    Nuclear energy is released by the splitting or merging together of the Atomic nucleus of atom. The conversion of nuclear mass to energy is consistent with the mass-energy equivalence formula ?E = ?m.c?, in which ?E = energy release, ?m = mass defect, and c = the speed of light in a vacuum ....
    , energy stored in interactions between the particles in the atomic nucleus
    Atomic nucleus

    The nucleus of an atom is the very dense region, consisting of nucleons , at the center of an atom. Although the size of the nucleus varies considerably according to the mass of the atom, the size of the entire atom is comparatively constant....
    ; studied in nuclear physics
    Nuclear physics

    Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei.The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power and nuclear weapons, but the research field is also the basis for a far wider range of applications, including in the medical sector , in materials engineering...
  • Electromagnetic energy, in the form of electric charges, magnetic fields, and photons; from the study of electromagnetism
    Electromagnetism

    Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field, a field which exerts a force on Elementary particles with the property of electric charge and which is reciprocally affected by the presence and motion of such particles....
  • Various forms of energy in quantum mechanics
    Quantum mechanics

    Quantum mechanics is a set of principles underlying the most fundamental known description of all physical systems at the microscopic scale . Notable amongst these principles are both a dual wave-like and particle-like behavior of matter and radiation, and prediction of probabilities in situations where classical physics predicts certaintie...
    ; for example, the energy level
    Energy level

    A Quantum mechanics system or particle that is Bound state, confined spatially, can only take on certain discrete values of energy, as opposed to Classical mechanics particles, which can have any energy....
    s of electron
    Electron

    The electron is a subatomic particle that carries a negative electric charge. It has elementary particle and is believed to be a point particle....
    s in an atom


In certain cases, it can be unclear what counts as "mechanical" energy. For example, is the energy stored in the structure of a crystal "mechanical" or "chemical"? Scientists generally use these "types" as convenient labels which clearly distinguish between different phenomena. It is not scientifically important to decide what is "mechanical" energy and what is "chemical". In these cases, usually there is a more specific name for the phenomenon in question. For example, in considering two bonded atoms, there are energy components from vibrational motion, from angular motions, from the electrical charge on the nuclei, secondary electromagnetic considerations like the Van der Waals force
Van der Waals force

In physical chemistry, the van der Waals force , named after The Netherlands scientist Johannes Diderik van der Waals, is the attractive or repulsive force between molecules other than those due to covalent bonds or to the electrostatic interaction of ions with one another or with neutral molecules....
, and quantum mechanical contributions concerning the energy state of the electron shells.