Thermal Energy
What is thermal energy?
The total energy of all the particles in an object.
What are the three main ways heat moves?
Conduction, convection, radiation.
Do waves transfer matter or energy?
Energy.
Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum can we see?
Visible light.
What kind of wave needs matter to travel?
A mechanical wave
Which tells how fast particles move on average: temperature or thermal energy?
Temperature.
Which type of heat transfer does not require matter and can travel through empty space?
Radiation.
When a wave enters a new medium, which property stays the same: frequency or amplitude?
Frequency.
What do we call the bending of light when it goes from air into water?
Refraction
Can light travel through empty space (like from the Sun to Earth)?
Yes
Why can an iceberg have more thermal energy than a hot cup of coffee?
The iceberg has more mass (more particles), so it has more total thermal energy.
Which heat transfer happens when warm air from a heater rises and cool air sinks?
Convection.
If a wave splits into a transmitted and a reflected wave at a boundary, what happens to their amplitudes?
Both have smaller amplitudes because the original energy is split.
Why does a straw look bent in a glass of water?
Light bends when it moves from water to air, so the straw looks shifted (bent).
Which wave type needs a medium: sound or light?
Sound
Why do your hands feel warm when you rub them together?
Rubbing makes particles move faster, which creates heat.
A metal spoon gets hot in soup but a wooden spoon does not. Which is a better conductor?
The metal spoon
In a transverse wave, do particles move up and down or back and forth?
Up and down
What does a prism do to white light?
It separates white light into colors.
Is a water surface wave transverse or longitudinal?
Transverse
How can you tell which of two same-temperature objects stores more thermal energy?
The one with more mass (more particles) has more thermal energy.
How would you find which material (aluminum foil, wool, glass) keeps a hot cup warm the longest?
Put equal hot water in identical cups wrapped with each material and measure which cup loses the least heat.
If a wave slows down in a new medium but its frequency stays the same, does its wavelength get longer, shorter, or stay the same?
Shorter
What three steps happen inside a raindrop to make a rainbow?
Refraction, reflection, refraction
What causes a mirage on a hot road: the road cooling the air, or the road heating the air?
The road heating the air