Lesson Plan: Gravitational Potential Energy in a Radial Field Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to calculate the gravitational potential energy between two massive objects and describe how this potential energy changes as the objects change positions.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- use to find the gravitational potential energy of an object at a point in a radial gravitational field,
- recall that gravitational potential energy is negative and understand why,
- calculate changes in gravitational potential energy when an object moves between two or more positions in a radial gravitational field,
- calculate the change in kinetic energy and speed as a result of a change in gravitational potential energy.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- what the terms potential energy and gravitational potential energy mean,
- calculating the gravitational potential energy of an object in a uniform gravitational field,
- calculating the change in kinetic energy or speed of an object that experiences a change in gravitational potential energy,
- using .
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- any other field configurations.
