What is energy? Energy is the ability to do work. You cannot always see energy, but you can sometimes feel it. Some days you may feel more “ENERGETIC” than others.

o Think of energy as the power to do things. o Scientist define energy as the ability to do work. o Energy can cause movement or changes in matter. o Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred from one form to another.

There are many forms of energy. They include….

 Mechanical Energy is the energy that makes things move. IIt’s the energy behind the force.  For example… a ball rolling down a hill is using mechanical energy.  When you roll a ball up a hill, you are actually storing mechanical energy.

Sound energy is carried along waves of air. For example… When a person pulls a guitar string, the string begins to vibrate. The energy from the vibrating string causes the air to vibrate. Our ears are sensitive to these vibrations. The energy from these vibrations passes to our ears, and we hear these vibrations of sound. Force is applied to the string to make it vibrate. Our ears heat these vibrations as sound. Vibrating air

Sound can also travel through water, wood, and many other materials as well as air. When the vibrations are stronger, the sound is louder. When the vibrations are faster, their sound is higher. When the vibrations are slower, their sound is lower and deeper. Sound energy travels in waves in all directions from it’s source. If a sound wave hits an object like a wall, the sound may bounce off, or reflect away from, this object. We sometimes hear bouncing sound waves as echoes.

Heat or thermal energy, is caused by the movement of tiny particles that make up all matter. As the particles in an object move more quickly, the object gets warmer. Temperature measures how fast these particles are moving. For example… water particles are moving faster at 100ºC (the boiling point of water) than at 0ºC (its freezing point). Heat energy can pass from one object to other objects. The moving particles in one piece of matter bump into the particles of neighboring matter to speed them up.

Heat transfers from hotter objects to colder ones. If you stir a pot of soup on the stove with a metal spoon, the spoon will get hot after a few minutes. Therefore, heat energy has transferred or passed from the hot soup to the spoon

Light energy can move through water, air, and glass. Light can even move through empty space. Scientist believe that light may actually consist of little particles or packages of energy Like sound, light energy travels from its source in waves of energy.

The sun provides solar energy. Solar Energy is a form of light energy. This energy comes from the sun and travels millions of miles through space to reach Earth. The white light that we see actually consists of many colors. A prism, a piece of cut glass, can be used to break up a ray of sunlight into many different colors of light. Solar energy can actually be used as a source of power.

Did you watch TV last night or work on your computer? If you answered yes, you used electricity. Electricity can flow easily through many types of materials. It is based on the movement on tiny electrical charges from one particle to the next. Most metals are good conductors of electricity. That means that electricity can move easily through them.

What form of energy does a person use to write with a pencil? a)Heat/thermal b)Mechanical c)Sound d)Electrical *

What from of energy will evaporate a puddle of water? a)Light b)Mechanical c)Heat/Thermal d)Electrical *

What form of energy allows you to type on a computer? a)Light b)Mechanical c)Sound d)Electrical *