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Introduction to Energy
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About 13.8 billion years ago…
The universe existed as a singularity Infinite density Infinite temperature The laws of normal space-time did not exist
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BANG!!!!
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Our universe is created
BANG!!!! Our universe is created
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Following the Big Bang…
The universe began to expand outwards
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Following the Big Bang…
The universe began to expand outwards All matter and energy that has ever existed and will ever exist in our universe was created by the big bang Are matter and energy the only substances in the universe?
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Dark Matter Scientists have observed events in the universe that cannot be explained by ordinary matter and energy This forced scientists to infer the existence of a hypothetical type of matter called ‘dark matter’ The name comes from the fact that dark matter is ‘invisible’ because it does not interact or emit observable electromagnetic radiation (visible light, infrared, etc.)
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Dark energy Scientists have also observed that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate This cannot be explained through matter, energy, or dark matter Scientists have labelled the driving force behind the expansion ‘dark energy’
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Universe composition In fact, ordinary matter and energy comprises only 5% of the total mass-energy in the universe 95% of the energy-mass in the universe has been inferred and not observed!
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Conservation of Energy
As stated previously, all matter and energy that has ever existed and will ever exist in our universe was created by the big bang The Law of Conservation of Energy Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely transformed
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The Law of Conservation of Energy
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely transformed
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The Law of Conservation of Energy
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely transformed Energy ←→Matter For this unit, we will ignore these types of transformations.
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The Law of Conservation of Energy
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely transformed Energy ←→Matter Energy type←→Energy type What do we mean by energy type?
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Energy classifications
Energy can be classified in several ways: Microscopic versus macroscopic Kinetic versus potential Microscopic energy: refers to the energy of the particles within matter (recall the Kinetic Molecular Theory) Macroscopic energy: refers to the energy of an object
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Energy classifications
Energy can be classified in several ways: Microscopic versus macroscopic Kinetic versus potential Kinetic energy: the energy of motion Potential energy: stored energy
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Energy classifications
Energy can be classified in several ways: Microscopic versus macroscopic Kinetic versus potential Within these energy classifications are many types of energy which we will be examining over the coming weeks
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Energy classifications
Energy can be classified in several ways: Microscopic versus macroscopic Kinetic versus potential Within these energy classifications are many types of energy which we will be examining over the coming weeks Thermal Gravitational Chemical Nuclear Solar …
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Energy classifications
Energy can be classified in several ways: Microscopic versus macroscopic Kinetic versus potential Within these energy classifications are many types of energy which we will be examining over the coming weeks But what is energy? Brainstorm
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Energy definition Energy is a challenging concept to understand and explain
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Energy definition Energy is a challenging concept to understand and explain Energy is an abstract concept that describes the state of matter and its potential to change state due to interactions What we care about is not what energy is, but rather, what energy does Let’s examine energy using a money analogy
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Money as an analogy for energy
How would you define money?
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Money as an analogy for energy
How would you define money? Money, in and of itself, is kind of meaningless. We think of money mostly in terms of what we can use it for. When money is sitting in your bank doing nothing, its worth is an abstract idea to describe how much you could buy with it
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Money as an analogy for energy
How would you define money? Money, in and of itself, is kind of meaningless. We think of money mostly in terms of what we can use it for. When money is sitting in your bank doing nothing, its worth is an abstract idea to describe how much you could buy with it Energy is similar On its own, energy is simply an abstract concept we created in order to describe states of matter, and how they can change For example: Temperature is a measurement of how much the particles in matter are moving Kinetic energy is a way of understanding how matter is moving Potential energy is a way of understanding how matter could move
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Money as an analogy for energy
How would you define money? Money, in and of itself, is kind of meaningless. We think of money mostly in terms of what we can use it for. When money is sitting in your bank doing nothing, its worth is an abstract idea to describe how much you could buy with it Energy is similar On its own, energy is simply an abstract concept we created in order to describe states of matter, and how they can change For example: Temperature is a measurement of how much the particles in matter are moving Kinetic energy is a way of understanding how matter is moving Potential energy is a way of understanding how matter could move Let’s extend this analogy to better understand the conservation of energy
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Let this piggy bank represent the total amount of money you have….
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The money you have can be categorized in two ways:
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The cash that you have to spend…
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And the money saved in your bank account.
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You can deposit cash into your bank account…
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Or withdraw cash…
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But the amount of money you have remains constant.
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In order to change the amount of money you have, you either need to earn money…
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Or spend money.
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However, imagine that the money you earn is your allowance for doing chores around the house…
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And the money that you spend is to pay back your sibling for money that you owed them…
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Then, if we examined the amount of money in your household, it would remain constant regardless of your earning and spending
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In order to change the amount of money in your household…
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Your parents must either externally earn money…
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Or spend money externally.
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However, if we examined the Earth as a whole…
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The amount of money in the world remains constant, regardless of your family’s spending/earning
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Similarly….
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Imagine that this box represents an object.
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The amount of energy this object has comes in two types:
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Kinetic energy (energy of motion)…
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And potential energy (stored energy).
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Energy can be converted from potential to kinetic….
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And vice versa…
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But the total amount of energy of the object remains constant.
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In order to change the energy of an object you must either externally input energy… for example, by heating the object For example heating the object
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Or lose energy externally, perhaps by losing heat to the surroundings.
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However…
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If we consider the universe as a whole…
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The total amount of energy will always remain constant.
If we consider the universe as a whole
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The moral of the story… Within a finite system (analogy→ your household): Energy can be converted between potential and kinetic without changing the overall amount of energy Energy can enter or leave the system due to external interference Within the universe as a whole (analogy→ the planet): The amount of energy will always remain constant
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