Energy Basics
What is energy?
The ability to do work or cause change.
What type of energy is stored due to an object's position?
Potential energy
What kind of energy is energy of motion?
Answer: Kinetic energy
When a ball rolls down a hill, what energy change happens?
💡 Answer: Potential energy turns into kinetic energy.
What energy change happens when a swing moves from the top to the bottom?
💡 Answer: Potential → Kinetic energy.
Name two main types of mechanical energy.
Potential energy and kinetic energy.
What factors affect gravitational potential energy?
Mass, height, and gravity.
What are two things that affect kinetic energy?
💡 Answer: Mass and speed.
What does the Law of Conservation of Energy state?
What energy transformation occurs in a car engine?
What unit is energy measured in?
Joules.
A ball is held at the top of a hill. What kind of energy does it have?
Gravitational potential energy.
If a car speeds up, what happens to its kinetic energy?
💡 Answer: It increases.
If no energy is lost to friction, what happens to total mechanical energy?
When you ride a bike downhill, what happens to your energy?
💡 Answer: Potential turns into kinetic energy.
True or False: Energy can be created or destroyed.
False. Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
What kind of energy does a stretched rubber band have?
Elastic Potential Energy
If an object stops moving, what happens to its kinetic energy?
💡 Answer: It changes into other forms, like heat or sound.
Describe what happens to energy when you drop a ball and it stops bouncing.
💡 Answer: Energy changes from potential → kinetic → heat/sound.
Why do roller coasters start high up?
💡 Answer: To gain lots of potential energy that becomes kinetic energy
What is the difference between thermal energy and mechanical energy?
Thermal energy is related to heat and particle motion; mechanical energy is the sum of potential and kinetic energy.
How does mass affect potential energy?
More mass = more potential energy (if height and gravity are constant).
True or False: An object at rest has kinetic energy.
False
When a roller coaster goes down a hill, what energy transformation occurs?
Explain how energy conservation applies to a skateboarder going up and down a ramp.
As the skateboarder goes up, kinetic energy converts to potential energy; going down, potential converts back to kinetic.