Potential Energy

Batteries A battery is an electrochemical cell that can change chemical energy to electrical energy The chemicals in the battery pull all the electrons to one of the terminals making it negatively charged. (separating + and -) This leaves the other terminal positively charged

When a battery is connected to an object, like a light bulb, the electrons flow out of the negative end of the battery and through wires to power the bulb. The chemical energy now is in the form of electrical energy. The light bulb changes this to light energy

Energy Kinetic energy is the energy of movement Potential energy is the energy stored in an object The energy stored in a battery can be called electric potential energy because the stored electrons have the ability to do work, but only after they leave the battery

Energy only changes from potential energy into light or kinetic or sound or any other type of energy once the electrons begin to move Potential energy has the potential to turn into many different kinds of energy.

Potential difference Remember, charge is measured in coulombs The amount of electrical potential energy in one coulomb is called the potential difference or voltage. One volt is one unit of electrical potential energy.

Imagine a staircase... If you climb the stairs to get to the top you have done work, now called potential energy If you climb the same staircase with a heavy backpack you have done more work and so have more potential energy The potential energy relies on two things...the height of the stairs and the amount of mass moved to the top.

Potential energy of a battery... Depends on two things (just like in the staircase):  The potential energy of the battery (Volts)  The amount of charge that the battery can separate (Coulombs)

Voltmeter A device that measures the potential difference (volts) between two locations of charge separation (such as between the positive and negative ends of a battery)