The principle of conservation of energy is one of the more far-reaching general laws of physics. It states that energy is neither created nor destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to another in an isolated system. Because the total energy of the system always remains constant, the law of conservation of energy is a useful tool for analyzing a physical situation where energy is changing form. Imagine a swinging pendulum with negligible frictional forces. At the top of its rise, all the energy is gravitational potential energy due to height above the stationary position. At the bottom of the swing, all the energy has been transformed into kinetic energy of motion. The total energy is the sum of the kinetic and potential energies. It maintains the same value throughout the back and forth motion of a swing.