Georgia Physical Science EOC Practice Test 2026 – Complete Exam Prep

Mechanical energy is the energy that combines both motion and position. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, while potential energy is the energy stored due to height or configuration in a force field. In many systems, like a swinging pendulum or a roller coaster car, the total energy you observe is the sum of these two forms. If there’s no friction or other nonconservative forces, that total remains constant as energy shuffles between kinetic and potential forms.

Think of a cart at the top of a hill: it has high potential energy and low kinetic energy. As it rolls down, potential energy converts into kinetic energy, but their sum—the mechanical energy—stays essentially the same. Other terms describe different ideas: electromagnetic energy is energy carried by electromagnetic fields, efficiency is a ratio of useful output to input, and photoelectric energy isn’t a standard term for a combined energy form.