My take on the difference between kinetic energy and potential energy? Forget it. Energy is all there is. It has several forms and most of the forms are dependent on what your point of view is. There is radiant energy, which is primarily electromagnetic energy. There is matter, which is just energy wrapped up in a small volume. There is mechanical energy, there is electrical energy.
Kinetic energy and potential energy are basically just book keeping. They are ways of stating how much energy you can get out of a system. And they are relative. For example if you are sitting in a stationary car and there is a road under the car that is moving at 70 mph with respect to the car, then the car will have 0 kinetic energy and 0 potential energy. However, a concrete barrier on the road that is approaching at 70 mph will have a large kinetic energy.
And if you think my road is ridiculous, think about running on a treadmill, it is about the same thing.
Bill Gill
