Conservative force

A conservative force is one which the work done on a particle moving between two points is independent of the path taken, and a particle which moves in a closed loop will have no net work done on it. As such, there is a scalar potential energy field associated with the force vector field (or the force is the gradient of a scalar function).
==Examples==
===Conservative forces===
*Gravity
*Electric force
===Non-conservative forces===
*Friction
*Magnetic force
==See also==
*Conservative vector field on Math Wiki
Category:Mechanics