Sunday, July 20, 2014

newtonian mechanics - What has the potential energy: the spring or the body on the spring?


Particles have gravitational potential energy due to its position in the gravitational field. We say the particle has potential energy and not the Earth (the body doing the work). Why is it not the same with a spring doing work on a body?


It is my understanding that we can define a potential energy function for all systems being acted on by a conservative force. Since the spring force is conservative, why can't we define a spring (elastic) potential energy for the body? Why is the potential energy defined only for the spring?




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