Four Joules, Traded Forever

You'll learnhow a fixed energy budget shuttles between kinetic and spring potential as the block oscillates.

A block, a spring, and a fixed budget that never leaves — it only changes pockets. The energy well makes the whole trade visible: kinetic at the floor, potential up the walls, and a total that refuses to move. Double the pull-back and the whole budget quadruples.

8 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · v2

SPRING ENERGY LAB

Before you start

What you're looking at

A block on a spring at full stretch, beside an energy well and a two-account ledger for kinetic and potential.

The question

Where is the block fastest, and does doubling the pull-back double the energy?

Watch for

The energy split moving between the two accounts while the total refuses to change.

What the symbols mean

Kinetic energy K and spring potential U_s (joules); the well's floor is equilibrium, its walls the turning points.

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