You may not have used a solar car to get to school today, but the energy needed for the trip came from… the the Sun! Sun!

How is that possible?

Where did the car or bus get its kinetic energy?

The car’s kinetic energy comes from

burning fuel.

Fuel’s chemical

energy comes from decomposed

micro-organisms

that lived in the sea.

The tiny animals get their energy

by eating plants,

which get their energy

from the sun.

The sun gets its energy

from the atoms

inside it. The sun is the source of almost

all the energy on

earth.

If you walked to school, where did you get your kinetic

energy?

CHALLENGE: Make your own diagram tracing back the energy in a toaster as far as you can go!

Your energy to move

comes from burning food.

The chemical energy in eggs

comes from the plants the

chicken ate.

The chickens get their energy from plants, which get their energy from the sun.

The sun gets its energy from the atoms inside it. The sun is the source of almost all the energy on earth.

Unlike matter, energy does not have mass or take up space. People and things all around us have energy, but we cannot observe energy directly. Instead, we see only the effects of energy. The wind blows our hair, a toaster browns our bread, or gasoline fuels our car. These are examples of changes that energy causes in matter.

From p.51, Gateways to Science Grade 6

Follow these directions with your partner:

1.Hold the neck of the bottle in the ice water for a few seconds.

2.Place the penny over the mouth of the jar.

3.Place some oil around the bottles opening or on the penny in order to provide a completely air tight seal.

4.Now hold bottle in your hands and carefully observe the penny

At first, the air inside the bottle is cold, so the air molecules

are closer together.

When you hold the bottle, heat energy

from your hands warms the air in the

bottle.

The air then moves more, pushing against

the bottle, including the penny at the top, causing

it to move.

STATION 1 STATION 2

STATION 3 STATION 4

-The ball is less dense than the water so it rises back to the surface.

-The dish soap causes the fat in the milk to break down and move away from the other fat particles.

-The food coloring lets us see the movement caused by the reaction between the soap and the fat.

- Striking the tuning fork causes air molecules to bounce between the two sides of the fork. This makes sound waves and moves the ping pong ball.

-The car starts at rest and speeds up as it rolls down the ramp. It makes noise as it reaches the bottom.

Mrs. Cent Foldable – Energy TypesGLUE MechanicalTHIS Radiant

COLUMN SoundTO Chemical

YOUR ElectricalSCIENCE NuclearJOURNAL Thermal

A. Nuclear

B. Sound

C.Mechanical

D.Radiant

A. Nuclear

B. Sound

C.Mechanical

D.Chemical

A. Radiant

B.Mechanical

C.Electrical

D.Radiant

FOOD

FOSSILFUELS

STATION 1 STATION 2

STATION 3 STATION 4

Your hand transferred moving or mechanical energy to the ball. Because of gravity, the water moved the ball upwards.

Mechanical to Mechanical (Potential to Kinetic)

Gravity pulling the car downward transformed mechanical (potential) energy into mechanical (kinetic) energy.

Mechanical to Mechanical (Potential to Kinetic)

Striking the tuning fork gives it mechanical energy and produces sound energy (moving air particles). The sound energy then transforms into mechanical energy that moves the ball.

Mechanical to Sound to Mechanical

The dish soap broke bonds in the fat molecules in the milk, causing the milk to move when the chemical energy was released.

Chemical to Mechanical

Electrical Energy Mechanical

Energy

Thermal Energy

SoundEnergy

The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it just changes form!

Energy

Before

Energy

Before

Energy AfterEnergy After

Electrical Energy Mechanical

Energy

Thermal Energy

SoundEnergy

100 J

60 J

30 J

10 J

So we can’t make energy, but energy can be made more useful by changing it from one form to another.

Record at least three examples of how energy is changed from one form to another to make it more useful in your own life. ? ?