Potential energy is the energy associated with the position or configuration of a body and the surrondings.
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion.
The background of this lab is the use of a pendulum. A pendulum is a device used to measure the speed of a projectile such as a book in this case. In this lab we will try to show the relationship of the potential energy and kinetic energy. The procedure for this lab is first of all you have to set up the lab. Next you put together how you are going to relaease the pendulum.