There are various types of energies that exist in our daily world. Kinetic energy is one such energy. Kinetic energy is the form of energy that is possessed by all moving things. Kinetic energy is a physical quantity that is a function of mass and velocity of an object. Since it depends on mass and velocity, the heavier the object and the higher velocity it possesses means that it has a higher kinetic energy. Kinetic energy can be converted into other forms of energy using various mechanical devices to help in this process. The process of converting kinetic energy to electrical energy has significant use in today’s world. There are many renewable forms of energy that rely on this very principal and it is important for us to be educated about kinetic energy and its uses.

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The description of kinetic energy is mostly physical since it is in direct relation with mass and velocity of an object. The formula for kinetic energy is given as:

               
                                                                         Kinetic Energy=1/2mv2

where m is the mass of the object and v is the velocity of the object. A body that is in a state of rest does not possess any form of kinetic energy since its velocity is zero. When an object is abruptly stopped, its kinetic energy is either transferred or is converted into some other form of energy. Various forms of renewable energy use kinetic energy as a base towards producing other forms of energy. In wind turbines for example the kinetic energy of the wind is being converted to mechanical energy and this mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy using a generator or the mechanical energy is used for other purposes. Similarly, hydroelectricity uses the kinetic energy produced by the running water through a turbine which produces high amounts of mechanical or electrical energy based on its use.

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From the equation formula mentioned above, we can notice a couple of interesting things about kinetic energy :

One misconception to be clarified is that kinetic energy is not a vector. So a baseball thrown to the right with a velocity of 9 m/s, has the exact same kinetic energy when it is thrown down with the same velocity. 

• Kinetic energy depends on the velocity of the object squared. This means that when the velocity of an object doubles, its kinetic energy quadruples. For instance, a car traveling with at 80 mph has four times the kinetic energy of an identical car traveling at 40 mph, but is also four times more likely candidate for death and destruction during an accident.

• Kinetic energy is always greater or equal to zero. While velocity can have a positive or negative value, velocity squared is always positive.