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Potential energy

Review your understanding of potential energy in this free article aligned to NGSS standards.

Key points:

  • Potential energy is energy that has the potential to become another form of energy. An object’s potential energy depends on its physical properties and position in a system.
  • Potential energy comes in many forms, such as:
  • Gravitational potential energy due to an object’s mass and position in a gravitational field
  • Magnetic potential energy due to a magnetic object’s position in a magnetic field
  • Electric potential energy due to the size of an electric charge and its position in an electric field
  • Elastic potential energy of a spring or rubber band that is stretched
  • Changing an object’s position can change its potential energy. This depends on the forces between objects.
  • For example, if two objects attract each other, moving them apart will increase their potential energies. If two objects repel each other, moving them apart will decrease their potential energies.

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