What is it?
GPE is the energy an object gets simply by hanging out in a gravitational field.

Imagine this
You're on a ladder and holding an apple. The higher you climb, the more energy that apple has. If you drop it (don't!), it has more energy to fall and splat.

Key Idea:
It's not about how you climbed that ladder; whether you took a break halfway, or danced your way up. The apple's GPE is only about where you started and where you ended.

Formula:
ΔEp (Change in GPE) = mg × Δh

(where m is mass, g is gravitational acceleration, and Δh is change in height)

Conservative Forces

• What? Forces like gravity.
• Cool Fact: Work done doesn't care about the path taken.
• Example: Imagine a drone flying straight up 5 meters or taking a zigzag route to the same height. The energy change from gravity is the same!
• Remember: With conservative forces, moving in a closed loop (like a circle) means ZERO work done!

Non-conservative Forces

• What? Forces like friction.
• Example: Drag a book across a table. Go straight or take a scenic route? With friction, the scenic route costs more energy.
• Key Point: You can't get back all the energy like you can with just gravity.