Energy! by Connor S

Energy is the ability to do work or change things. Energy comes in a variety of forms such as thermal, electrical, kinetic, or potential(there’s more). Energy also can’t be destroyed or created, and the universe will have and has always had the same amount of energy. It can transform into different kinds of energy due to different kinds of reactions. Let’s say we have electrical energy in a light. It changes from electrical to thermal energy creating light, and the heat around the bulb is evidence of this change.

  Potential energy is kind of mind-boggling to me because I find it hard to believe that an object completely still has energy. Alas, they do because the energy that they have is stored in the objects. There are a couple of kinds of potential energy depending on what or where the object is. Gravitational potential energy is when energy is stored due to an object’s position above Earth’s surface, where there is more energy stored the higher the object is. Elastic potential energy is when energy is stored in something that compresses or stretches like a spring. The energy is the same as the work done to stretch the spring. One other kind of potential energy is chemical potential energy, and this is when energy is stored in the bonds of atoms, and then gets released through chemical reactions.

In the upcoming derby, we are using potential energy that is transforming into kinetic energy. The object at rest has the potential to create kinetic energy by whatever is propelling that car. Some examples are the rubber band on a launch ramp of an airplane, or the rat trap base of a car, or balloons on the back of a car. These are some examples that could be in the derby, and they all have potential energy transforming into kinetic energy. One question to take away from this might be how do you use energy everyday?