Energy stores and transfers
Identify the main energy stores (kinetic, gravitational potential, elastic potential, thermal, chemical, nuclear, electromagnetic) and the pathways by which energy is transferred between stores (mechanically, electrically, by heating, by radiation)
What a learner can do afterwards
- Names and describes at least five energy stores with a real-world example of each
- Identifies the energy stores at the start and end of a given process (e.g. a falling ball, a burning match)
- Describes the transfer pathway connecting two energy stores in a given scenario
- Traces energy through a system identifying all stores and transfers involved
The lesson
You already know energy comes in different types and that it can travel. Now put a name on where energy is kept: a store. The main stores are kinetic (moving things), gravitational potential (things high up), elastic potential (squashed or stretched things), thermal (hot things), chemical (food and fuel), nuclear (deep inside atoms), and electromagnetic (light and radio waves).
A struck match starts with energy in its chemical store, held in the match head. When it burns, that energy transfers by heating into the thermal store, warming the air, and by radiation into the electromagnetic store, as light you can see.
Energy moves along four pathways: mechanically (a push, pull, or falling), electrically (through wires), by heating (hot to cold), and by radiation (light or heat waves through space). Pick the one that matches how the energy actually moved.
Look at a torch switched on. The battery's chemical store transfers energy electrically to the bulb. There, it splits into the electromagnetic store, the light you see, and the thermal store, since the bulb gets warm. Four stores, two pathways, one torch.
Energy never disappears. It just moves from store to store along a pathway: mechanically, electrically, by heating, or by radiation.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.