Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 38 views

    6 9C-EnergyFormsConversions

    Uploaded by

    Tracy Nicole Maurillo
    The document is a science tutorial about energy forms and conversions. It defines energy and explains that there are six main forms of energy: mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, radiant, and nuclear. It also describes how energy can be classified as either kinetic (energy in motion) or potential (stored energy). The document provides examples of different energy transformations, illustrating how one form of energy can be converted to another, but energy is never destroyed according to the law of conservation of energy.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    6 9C-EnergyFormsConversions

    Uploaded by

    Tracy Nicole Maurillo
    38 views5 pages
    The document is a science tutorial about energy forms and conversions. It defines energy and explains that there are six main forms of energy: mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, radiant, and nuclear. It also describes how energy can be classified as either kinetic (energy in motion) or potential (stored energy). The document provides examples of different energy transformations, illustrating how one form of energy can be converted to another, but energy is never destroyed according to the law of conservation of energy.

    Original Title

    6_9C-EnergyFormsConversions

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document is a science tutorial about energy forms and conversions. It defines energy and explains that there are six main forms of energy: mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, radiant, and nuclear. It also describes how energy can be classified as either kinetic (energy in motion) or potential (stored energy). The document provides examples of different energy transformations, illustrating how one form of energy can be converted to another, but energy is never destroyed according to the law of conservation of energy.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    38 views5 pages

    6 9C-EnergyFormsConversions

    Uploaded by

    Tracy Nicole Maurillo
    The document is a science tutorial about energy forms and conversions. It defines energy and explains that there are six main forms of energy: mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, radiant, and nuclear. It also describes how energy can be classified as either kinetic (energy in motion) or potential (stored energy). The document provides examples of different energy transformations, illustrating how one form of energy can be converted to another, but energy is never destroyed according to the law of conservation of energy.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    You are on page 1of 5

    Name: ____________________ Teacher: _______________ Pd.

    ___ Date: ________

    STAAR Science Tutorial 23


    TEK 6.9C: Energy Forms & Conversions

    TEK 6.9C: Demonstrate energy transformations such as energy in a flashlight


    battery changes from chemical energy to electrical energy to light
    energy.

    Energy Forms

     Energy is the ability to do work or cause change. Unlike matter, energy does not
    have mass or take up space. It is visible only through the motion of matter or
    other changes to matter that it causes.

     As discussed in $: Potential and Kinetic Energy, energy can be classified


    into two broad categories, kinetic energy (energy presently performing work) and
    potential energy (stored energy not presently performing work).

     Energy can also be classified by its energy form, the physical appearance that it
    takes when observed interacting with matter. Energy form is a different
    classification category from the kinetic-potential classification category. Just as
    people can be classified by gender (male or female), age or by race, so too can
    energy be classified both by forand by its active or VWRUHGVWDWH

     Energy is found in six different forms: mechanical energy, chemical energy, thermal
    energy, electrical energy, radiant (or electromagnetic) energy, and nuclear energy:
     Mechanical energy, in its kinetic, working state, is the energy of motion of
    large objects, or the motion of a mass of particles moving in unison. A
    moving car, wind, ocean wave, earthquake or sound wave are all examples of
    kinetic mechanical energy. In the potential, stored state, mechanical energy
    is the energy stored in large objects or a mass of particles, because of their
    position, such as height above the ground (gravitational potential energy), or
    stored in its internal condition, such as compression or tension (elastic
    potential energy). A body of water stored behind a high dam, and a roller
    coaster car sitting at the top of the hill, are examples of gravitational
    potential energy. A compressed spring, stretched rubber band, and
    deformed rock along a fault line, which when released causes an earthquake,
    are all examples of elastic potential mechanical energy.

     Chemical energy is the energy stored in the bonds between atoms, such as
    ionic or covalent bonds. Chemical energy is always potential energy, never
    kinetic energy, because the chemical energy form must be converted to
    another form before it can do work or be observed as causing change. Every
    chemical reaction either stores chemical energy (endothermic reactions) or
    releases energy (exothermic reactions). The photosynthesis chemical
    reaction in plants uses radiant energy from sunlight and converts and stores
    that energy in the atomic bonds within the sugar created by the plant. When
    that sugar is eaten by an animal and digested, the cellular respiration
    reaction breaks the atomic bonds in sugar and converts the chemical energy,
    usually into thermal energy or mechanical energy.

     Thermal energy is the energy of vibrational motion in atoms and molecules.


    The greater the rate of vibration, the greater the thermal energy the particles
    have. Thermal energy is measured as temperature. Any atom or molecule
    above absolute zero (-273°C) has thermal energy. The vibration of thermal
    energy is why substances have a melting point and a boiling point. Matter
    with low thermal energy is found as a solid—there is not enough vibration
    (thermal energy) to allow the atoms to move around in relation to one
    another. As the thermal energy increases, the atoms vibrate more and can
    move around more easily—the solid melts into a liquid. As still more thermal
    energy is added, the atoms vibrate so violently that they can leave their
    container and fly around as a gas. Most energy transformation processes
    eventually produce thermal energy as the final energy form.

     Electrical energy is the energy found in charged particles—protons (+) or


    electrons (-). If the charges are not moving, we call it static electricity
    (potential energy). Examples of static electrical energy are the charge a
    person picks up when walking across carpet, charges in a cloud just before a
    lightning discharge, and the charge stored in a capacitor in an electrical
    circuit. If the particles (usually electrons) are moving through a conductor, it
    is an electrical current (kinetic energy). Electrical energy is easy to
    transport, and can easily be converted into other energy forms. For this
    reason, modern civilization is built around electric generation and electrical
    devices such as motors and computers.
     Radiant or electromagnetic energy is the only form of energy that does
    not need matter to be transmitted. Radio waves, microwaves, infrared
    waves, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays and gamma rays are all types of
    radiant or electromagnetic energy, differing only in their wavelengths.
    Electromagnetic waves move at a very fast constant speed (the “speed of
    light”), and thus can only be kinetic, not potential, energy.

     Nuclear energy is the energy stored in the nucleus of atoms released either
    in the nuclear fusion (fusing two nuclei into one nucleus) or fission (breaking
    one nucleus into two nuclei). The sun uses nuclear fusion to create other
    energy forms. Nuclear electric power plants use nuclear fission to create
    other energy forms.

    Law of Conservation of Energy

     The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be destroyed, but
    only transformed (converted) into different forms. For example, when sunlight
    (radiant energy) falls on a plant, the chlorophyll within the plant converts the
    radiant energy into chemical energy, stored in the atomic bonds of the sugar
    produced by photosynthesis. The mechanical energy of motion, such as in a roller
    coaster car, is usually transformed into thermal energy by friction (a force that
    opposes motion).
    Energy Transformations

     In stars and our Sun, nuclear energy is transformed by the nuclear fusion process
    (fusing four hydrogen nuclei into one helium nucleus) into electromagnetic /
    radiant energy. This electromagnetic (radiant) energy can travel through the
    vacuum of space to Earth, where it is transformed (converted) into other energy
    forms.

     Sunlight, which is electromagnetic / radiant energy, strikes the Earth’s surface and
    greenhouse gas molecules in the atmosphere, and are transformed into thermal
    energy, as the Earth is warmed by sunlight.

     As thermal energy is transferred by conduction from the land surface to air


    molecules, the air becomes less dense and rises, thus transforming some of the
    thermal energy into mechanical energy (convection currents and wind).

     When sunlight (electromagnetic / radiant energy) falls on a plant leave containing


    chlorophyll, the radiant energy is converted into chemical energy stored in the
    chemical bonds between the atoms in sugar, assembled from the carbon, oxygen
    and hydrogen atoms from water and carbon dioxide. This is the photosynthesis
    reaction.

     When animals eat plants and the sugar they contain, the chemical energy is
    converted into either mechanical energy (movement of the animal) or thermal
    energy (body heat). A small amount of the chemical energy is also converted into
    electrical energy for the nervous system. Some animals, such as fireflies and
    deep-sea fish, can convert chemical energy into light (electromagnetic energy).

     In a flashlight, chemical energy in the batteries is converted to electrical energy


    when the circuit including the batteries, switch and light bulb is completed. The
    electrical energy is converted to light (electromagnetic / radiant energy) and some
    heat (thermal energy) by the light bulb.

     In an electric motor, electrical energy is converted to motion (mechanical energy)


    and some heat (thermal energy).

     In a gasoline engine such as those found in an automobile, the chemical energy in


    the gasoline is converted into thermal energy (heat) when it burns, which in turn
    expands the gases in the cylinder and turns the engine (mechanical energy),
    moving the car.

     In a wind-powered electric generator, the wind (mechanical energy) turns the


    propeller, which then turns the electric generator, converting mechanical energy
    into electrical energy.

     In a coal- or natural gas-powered electric generator, the chemical energy contained


    in the coal or natural gas is converted into thermal energy, which moves the
    turbine (mechanical energy), which turns the electric generator, creating electrical
    energy. In a nuclear-powered electric generator, nuclear energy in the uranium
    (rather than the chemical energy in coal or natural gas) is converted to thermal
    energy.
    Practice Questions
    1. The ability to do work or cause change is called ________________.
    2. The two main categories of energy are ___________________ energy (stored
    energy) and __________________________ energy (energy presently doing
    work or causing change).
    3. The form of energy that is found in large moving objects is
    ______________________ __________________ energy.
    4. The form of energy that is stored in large objects because of its position above
    the ground is ______________________ _________________ energy.
    5. The form of energy that is stored in large objects because of its internal
    condition, such as compression or tension, is called _____________________
    _______________________ energy.
    6. The form of energy stored in the bonds between atoms is _________________
    energy.
    7. The form of energy stored in the nucleus of atoms is _________________
    energy.
    8. Light and radio are examples of the __________________________ or
    ______________________ energy form.
    9. Moving electrons in a conductor are an example of ____________________
    _________________ energy.

    10. Vibrating molecules and atoms are an example of ___________________


    energy.
    11. The two kinds of nuclear reactions are _________________ and
    _________________.
    12. In a roller coaster, both the kinetic and potential energy in the car decreases at
    each successive hill because of __________________, which converts
    ______________ energy into _______________ energy.

    13. The energy transformation in the Sun is from ______________________ to


    ___________________ energy.
    14. The energy conversion that causes wind is from _____________________
    energy in _________________ to ______________________ energy in the
    wind.
    15. The energy transformation in a flashlight is from ____________________
    energy contained in the battery to _____________________ energy in the
    circuit, to ______________________ and ____________________ energy
    released by the light bulb.
    16. The energy transformation in photosynthesis is from ______________________
    energy from _____________________ to ________________________ energy
    made by the chlorophyll in the plant.

    17. The energy transformation in cellular respiration is from ___________________


    in the food that animals eat into the______________________ energy of their
    motion and ________________________ energy of their body heat.

    You might also like