Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2011 / Paper 1 / Section E / E14 / d

A conservative force has work depending only on the endpoints, so it can be writtenThe arbitrary additive constant in potential energy has no effect on force. A smooth curl-free force is conservative on a simply connected domain; a hole or excluded singularity requires checking global circulation as well.

Uniform gravity has $U=mgz$, central gravity has $U=-GMm/r$ with zero at infinity, and a linear spring has $U=k{x}^2/2$ relative to equilibrium. If the potential is time independent and no other force does work, $K+U$ is conserved by the work-energy theorem. A time-dependent potential or nonconservative work can change mechanical energy; having an instantaneous gradient force alone is not sufficient for energy conservation. ^[ref]