Question

What do you understand by the conservation of mechanical energy? State the condition under which the mechanical energy is conserved.

Answer 1

Mechanical energy is the sum of Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy.
The only condition under which mechanical energy is conserved is that all the forces acting on it should be conservative forces.


For the conservation of mechanical energy of the system, non-conservative forces like frictional force should be zero. A system should be free from the non-conservative force so that irreversible energy losses like heat cannot take place.