Question

What are the two main types of energy?

Answer 1

Hint: According to physics, as we know that Energy is possessed by all matters present in the universe, Energy is the fundamental property of a matter which enables it to do work in many forms. We will discuss two main forms of energy which are almost possessed by every matter.

Complete answer:
Before discussing two main forms of energy we should know that, in the physical universe there are only two states a matter can possess: either it can be at rest or moving with respect to another body.Now, the first form of energy is Potential energy, Potential energy of a body is the energy which depends upon the relative position of a body with respect to another body.

For example if two bodies are at some distance in space and held by gravity then, the potential energy possessed by bodies is known as gravitational potential energy. Also, when a spring is in its normal position, it has a restoring energy which is used by spring in order to restore its original position after stretching it by some distance and this restoring energy is called potential energy of the spring.

These two are main examples of Potential energy. The other main form of energy is Kinetic energy, Kinetic energy is due to the motion of a body, if a body is moving say some velocity $v$ and it has some mass $m$ then, then energy stored in it is known as kinetic energy and defined as $K.E = \dfrac{1}{2}m{v^2}.$

Hence, potential energy and Kinetic energy are two main forms of energy.

Note: It should be remembered that, every objects which has mass will must have energy, and according to famous Einstein formula energy and mass are interrelated as $E = m{c^2}$ where c is the speed of light, In whole universe law of conservation of energy is valued which states that total energy of the system is always conserved, it can either be transformed into different forms but can’t be destroyed neither can be created in the universe.