Kinetic and potential energy, work and power calculator

Kinetic energy is KE = ½mv²; with mass in kilograms and speed in metres per second the result is in joules. Because speed is squared, doubling it quadruples the energy: a 1,000 kg car has 200 kJ at 20 m/s and 800 kJ at 40 m/s. Rearranged for speed, v = √(2KE ÷ m), so a 0.145 kg ball carrying 100 J moves at 37.1 m/s.

Work is energy transferred by a force, W = Fd cos θ, measured in joules; power is how fast that transfer happens, P = W ÷ t, measured in watts, where 1 W = 1 J/s. Lifting 50 kg through 10 m takes 4,903 J however it is done; doing it in 5 s needs 981 W, and spreading it over 60 s needs 81.7 W.

One kilowatt-hour is 3,600,000 J, because it is 1,000 W sustained for 3,600 s. One kilocalorie, the food Calorie, is 4,184 J, using the thermochemical calorie of exactly 4.184 J listed in NIST SP 811. The 200,000 J carried by a 1,000 kg car at 20 m/s is therefore 0.0556 kWh, or about 47.8 kcal.

Without air resistance the impact speed is v = √(2gh), whatever the mass. A drop from 20 m ends at 19.81 m/s (71.3 km/h); a drop from 5 m ends at 9.90 m/s. Speed grows with the square root of height, so four times the height only doubles the speed. Air drag makes real speeds lower, most of all for light objects and long falls.

A spring stores E = ½kx², where k is the spring constant in N/m and x the extension or compression in metres. A 200 N/m spring compressed by 10 cm stores 1 J; compressed by 20 cm it stores 4 J. The formula holds only within the elastic range, where Hooke's law F = kx applies and the spring returns to its original length.

정확도는 입력값과 계산 방법의 가정에 따라 달라집니다. 십진 연산은 유효숫자 50자리를 사용하지만, 추정값·수치해석 방법·원본 데이터의 정밀도는 더 낮을 수 있습니다. 표시값을 반올림해도 이러한 한계는 사라지지 않습니다. 독립적인 출처의 풀이와 대조한 계산 예시: 8. 예를 들어 “1000 kg car at 20 m/s”은 Python 3.8 decimal: ½ × 1000 × 20² = 200000 J = 0.0555… kWh와 대조해 확인합니다.

OpenStax University Physics Volume 1, ch. 7 Work and kinetic energy; ch. 8 Potential energy and conservation of energy; HyperPhysics — Work, energy and power.