Energy conservation in dynamics; vibrational motions

Abstract

Of all the physical concepts, that of energy is perhaps the most far-reaching. Everyone, whether a scientist or not, has an awareness of energy and what it means. Energy is what we have to pay for in order to get things done. The word itself may remain in the background, but we recognize that each gallon of gasoline, each Btu of heating gas, each kilowatt-hour of electricity, each car battery, each calorie of food value, represents, in one way or another, the wherewithal for doing what we call work. We do not think in terms of paying for force, or acceleration, or momentum. Energy is the universal currency that exists in apparently countless denominations; and physical processes represent a conversion from one denomination to another.