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Energy is often associated with position The higher above the earth's surface an object is, the more energy it has. An object hanging from a spring has more energy when the spring is stretched than when it just hangs there. We call energy that depends on position the potential energy and use the letter "U" to represent it. We define gravitational potential energy as: We define elastic potential energy as: x = amount a spring is stretched. "k" is called the force constant, and refers to the stiffness of the spring--the stiffer the spring the higher the value of k.

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