Answer:

Gravitational potential energy may be converted to other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy. If we release the mass, gravitational force will do an amount of work equal to mgh on it, thereby increasing its kinetic energy by that same amount (by the work-energy theorem). We will find it more useful to consider just the conversion of PEg to KE without explicitly considering the intermediate step of work. (See Example 2.) This shortcut makes it is easier to solve problems using energy (if possible) rather than explicitly using forces.

More precisely, we define the change in