Chapter 6:

1) Energy is a measure of the ability to cause change or to do “work.”

2) The units used to express energy are Joules (J)

One Joule is the energy need to push with a force of 1 newton over a distance of 1 meter

3) There are several forms energy can take

thermal, chemical, electric, light, nuclear, and sound

These forms can be classified into two main types of energy:

Kinetic or Potential.

4) The energy of motion is called kinetic energy.Kinetic energy depends on an object’s speed and mass.

The faster it moves, the more kinetic energy it has.

5) Potential energy is the energy of an object due to its position or shape.

The forms of energy can be classified as potential or kinetic:

Kinetic PotentialNuclearChemicalGravitational

ThermalElectricSoundLightAny movement!!!!

Examples: thermal energy: total energy of the movement of the particles that make up an object (also called heat)

Where is there more thermal energy?

Chemical energy: energy of chemical bonds

Anything you can burn (or eat) has chemical energy. -please don’t eat batteries…..

Electrical energy:

energy of moving electrons

Sound energy: energy of vibrations

Light energy: energy of electrically charged particles – Electromagnetic Radiation

Nuclear energy: energy produced from changes to the nucleus of an atom

1) fusion: joining atoms (sun)

2)fission: splitting atoms (nuclear power plants)

According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Therefore the total amount of energy in the universe remains constant.

5) Any time one form of energy is converted into another some energy is lost to thermal energy (heat) -usually because of friction.

Unfortunately, that conversion comes at a price. To understand this, we need to remember two important rules:

1. You can't get something for nothing. 2. You can't even break even.