Energy Basics
Question: What is energy?
Answer: The ability to cause change or make things happen.
Question: What type of energy allows us to see objects?
Answer: Light energy.
Question: Does a marble sitting still at the top of a ramp have potential or kinetic energy?
Answer: Potential energy.
Question: What type of energy does a lamp use to produce light?
Answer: Electrical energy.
Question: What is one renewable energy source?
Answer: Solar, wind, or moving water.
Question: What kind of energy is stored and ready to be used?
Answer: Potential energy.
Question: What type of energy do we hear when someone plays a drum?
Answer: Sound energy.
Question: What type of energy does a marble have as it rolls down a ramp?
Answer: Kinetic energy.
Question: What energy transformation happens when a person eats food and then runs?
Answer: Chemical energy in food is transformed into movement and heat.
Question: What is one nonrenewable energy source?
Answer: Coal, oil, or natural gas.
Question: What kind of energy does a moving object have?
Answer: Kinetic energy.
Question: What type of energy is stored in food?
Answer: Chemical energy.
Question: What happens to the gravitational potential energy of a marble as it rolls downhill?
Answer: It decreases as energy is transferred into kinetic energy and other forms.
Question: What type of energy does a solar panel change sunlight into?
Answer: Electrical energy.
Question: Why can a wind turbine generate electricity?
Answer: Wind's kinetic energy turns blades connected to a generator.
Question: True or false: Energy can be created from nothing.
Answer: False. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can be transferred or transformed.
Question: What type of energy is stored in a stretched rubber band?
Answer: Elastic potential energy.
Question: When a moving marble hits a still marble, what can be transferred?
Answer: Energy can be transferred from the moving marble to the still marble.
Question: How can flowing water help produce electricity?
Answer: Flowing water turns a turbine connected to a generator.
Question: A bowling ball swings like a pendulum. Why doesn't it swing higher than its starting position without an extra push?
Answer: It cannot gain extra energy by itself; some mechanical energy also transfers to heat and sound.
Question: Why does a light bulb get warm when it is turned on?
Answer: Some electrical energy changes into thermal (heat) energy.
Question: Name three different forms of energy.
Answer: Any three: light, sound, thermal, electrical, chemical, or kinetic energy.
Question: Two identical marbles roll down the same ramp, but one starts higher. Which will usually be moving faster at the bottom, and why?
Answer: The marble starting higher, because it has more gravitational potential energy available to transform into kinetic energy.
Question: Describe the energy transformations from water stored high above a generator to a glowing light bulb.
Answer: Gravitational potential energy → kinetic energy of flowing water → mechanical energy of a turbine → electrical energy → light and heat.
Question: If energy cannot be destroyed, why should we still save electricity?
Answer: Because useful energy becomes spread out, often as heat, and producing electricity uses resources and may cause pollution.