How does kinetic energy relate to potential energy?

Answer 1

Think of potential energy as stored energy, and kinetic energy as energy that puts an object in motion (i.e., increases the magnitude of velocity). In general you can set them equal to each other, to for example determine the velocity an object will be at

Let U = kinetic energy and K = kinetic energy

U = mgh (mass, gravity, height)

K = (1/2)mv2 (mass, velocity)

If you set U and K equal to each other.

U = K

mgh = (1/2)mv2

masses cancel out leaving you with

v2= 2gh (or about 20h)

The higher an object is from the surface of the ground, the more potential energy it has. Looking at the equation I listed, you can see velocity get's higher as height increases. The velocity in this equation is what velocity it would be at the instant the object hit the surface.