The Secret Lives of Energy - The Energy Story

The Energy Story

	Exercise 1
	Exercise 2
	The Ten Types

	- Kinetic
	- Gravitational
	- Spring
	- Electrical
	- Magnetic
	- Mechanical
	- Heat
	- Nuclear
	- Light
	- Chemical

	Crossword
	Energy Game

Energy Changes

Energy Generation

The Energy Problem

The Energy Solution

Secret Lives Title - The Energy Story

Energy Types

In assignment 2, you tried to place the types, sources, and words associated with energy into 10 basic categories or types of energy. Since energy comes in so many forms and, as we will see, is also constantly changing from one form into another, selecting a perfect set of 10 basic types is not easy. Below are one possible set of 10 basic types of energy and the words from the list of assignment 2 that go with each type. You may have come up with your own perfectly reasonable set of 10 basic types that are somewhat different than the 10 listed below.

The 10 Types of Energy

Review the list below so that you can identify each energy's type before you continue. You can find a definition and more information by clicking on the energy type.

Also, each of these energies can be identified as either kinetic or potential. Kinetic energy is energy of motion - the energy is contained in the movement of the object or movement inside of the object. Potential energy is stored energy, energy that can be kept for use at a later time.

Some of the pages below have Macromedia flash animations that require the flash player. You can view the page without the flash player but you will not be able to see the animations. You can download and install the flash player from the following site: Download Flash Player

Type of Energy	Examples or Sources	KE= Kinetic PE= Potential
Kinetic Energy	kinetic sound wind turning drill bit	KE
Gravitational Energy	ball held above the ground hydro	PE
Spring	spring stretched rubber band wound up spring toy stretched bungee cord	PE
Electrical	electricity static cling lightning	KE
Magnetic	magnetic planetary poles compass	PE
Mechanical	mechanical pistons in a car engine	KE
Heat	heat thermal hot water steam	KE
Nuclear [flash animation]	nuclear fission fusion heavy water uranium	PE
Light [flash animation]	light microwaves x-rays solar ultraviolet rays	KE
Chemical [flash animation]	chemical gasoline batteries oil natural gas food gunpowder wood charcoal	PE