GC: n
CT: Mechanical energy is the energy that is possessed by an object due to its motion or due to its position. Mechanical energy can be either kinetic energy (energy of motion) or potential energy (stored energy of position). Objects have mechanical energy if they are in motion and/or if they are at some position relative to a zero potential energy position (for example, a brick held at a vertical position above the ground or zero height position). A moving car possesses mechanical energy due to its motion (kinetic energy). A moving baseball possesses mechanical energy due to both its high speed (kinetic energy) and its vertical position above the ground (gravitational potential energy). A World Civilization book at rest on the top shelf of a locker possesses mechanical energy due to its vertical position above the ground (gravitational potential energy). A barbell lifted high above a weightlifter’s head possesses mechanical energy due to its vertical position above the ground (gravitational potential energy). A drawn bow possesses mechanical energy due to its stretched position (elastic potential energy).
S: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/energy/Lesson-1/Mechanical-Energy (last access: 8 February 2015)
N: 1. mechanical (adj): early 15c., “of or pertaining to machines,” from mechanic (adj.) + -al; of persons or human actions, “resembling machines, automatic” it is from c.1600. Related: Mechanically. Mechanical-minded is recorded from 1820.
energy (n): 1590s, “force of expression,” from Middle French énergie (16c.), from Late Latin energia, from Greek energeia “activity, action, operation,” from energos “active, working,” from en “at” + ergon “work, that which is wrought; business; action”.
Used by Aristotle with a sense of “actuality, reality, existence” (opposed to “potential”) but this was misunderstood in Late Latin and afterward as “force of expression,” as the power which calls up realistic mental pictures. Broader meaning of “power” in English is first recorded 1660s. Scientific use is from 1807. Energy crisis first attested 1970.
2. Energy due to the motion of bodies in a large-scale, ordered fashion.
3. Mechanical energy thus differs from thermal energy, which is the energy of disordered, random motion of sub-microscopic particles. Mechanical energy is exemplified by moving bodies, such as a stream of moving water; or rotating bodies, such as the flywheel of an engine.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=mechanical+energy&searchmode=none (last access: 8 February 2015). 2 & 3. GDT.
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