Lesson ​6
What is Energy?
Everything moves, heats up, or lights up because of energy. Learners identify the different forms of energy and discover that all of them share one thing in common: they make things go.

Key Ideas
  • Energy is defined by what it does. It makes things move, change, or happen.
  • Four major forms of energy: heat energy (thermal energy), light energy (radiant energy), electrical energy, and movement energy (mechanical energy). All of them can make things go.
  • No process creates energy from nothing, and no process destroys it. When energy seems to disappear, it has actually shifted into a different form.

Supplies:


Vocabulary
  • Energy: Something that makes things move, change, or happen. It is defined by what it does, not what it is.
  • Thermal energy: Heat energy. The energy of warmth, felt from the sun, a fire, or any warm object.
  • Radiant energy: Light energy. It travels outward from a source in all directions.
  • Electrical energy: The energy of moving electric charge, carried through conducting materials.
  • Mechanical energy: Movement energy. The energy of any object in motion.
  • Conservation of energy: The principle that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another.

Discussion Questions
  • If energy cannot be created or destroyed, where did the energy in the universe originally come from?
  • When you feel exhausted after a long run, where did your energy actually go?
  • Can you think of a situation where it looks like no energy is being used, but energy is actually being transferred?

Hands-On Activity: Energy Forms Scavenger Hunt

Lab Sheet 

Supply List
  • A flashlight or lamp
  • A wind-up toy, rubber band, or yo-yo
  • A warm cup of water or hand warmer
  • Notebook and pencil

Instructions
  • Turn on the flashlight and point it at a surface. What form of energy do you see? Feel the area near the bulb. Is there another form present?
  • Wind up the toy or stretch the rubber band. Before releasing it, ask: where is the energy stored right now? Release it and watch. What form does it become?
  • Hold the warm cup or hand warmer. What form of energy is this? Where did that energy come from?
  • Walk through your home or classroom and find one example of each of the four forms of energy. Write them down and describe what each one is making go.
  • Choose one example and trace it back: where did that energy come from before it got there?

Sources

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L6: What is Energy by Selene
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