| gravitational potential energy | has definition Energy that a body can acquire by falling through a gravitational field and that decreases as the kinetic energy increases. There is no general reference level (analogous to the state of rest of a body in defining kinetic energy), and so we customarily define the change in gravitational potential energy as the negative of the work done by the gravitational forces during the bodys change of position. |  |
| has definition When we lift a weight from the floor to a tabletop, we clearly put energy into it. The energy is not lost, however, because we can retrieve it by allowing the weight to fall back to the floor. While the weight is on the table, we say that the energy is stored as gravitational potential energy. The energy is stored in the gravitational field. | |
| is a kind of potential energy | |
| energy | has unit energy unit | |
| number | has value | |
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