Interpreting a one-dimensional potential energy diagram allows you to obtain qualitative, and some quantitative, information about the motion of a particle. For example, the negative of the slope of t...Interpreting a one-dimensional potential energy diagram allows you to obtain qualitative, and some quantitative, information about the motion of a particle. For example, the negative of the slope of the potential energy curve, for a particle, equals the one-dimensional component of the conservative force on the particle. Also, at a turning point, the potential energy equals the mechanical energy and the kinetic energy is zero, indicating that the direction of the velocity reverses there.
