P1.

1
Student working scientifically
Name....................................................................... Class................... Date......................

Energy analogies
Specification references:
 P1.1.1 Energy stores and systems
 P1.1.2 Changes in energy
 P1.1.3 Energy changes in systems
 WS1.1b, WS1.4a

Aims
You will be learning how to use analogies effectively to explain different physics
concepts.

Learning outcomes
After completing this worksheet, you should be able to:
 use money as an analogy for energy, energy transfers, and power
 describe how energy stores can be used to explain how energy is stored and transferred in different
systems.

Setting the scene

Energy is a very abstract concept which helps scientists to make calculations and
predict what changes can, or cannot, happen in a system.
Since energy is not a ‘thing’ that can be touched and seen, it is quite difficult to
find good analogies to describe what it is and describe how it is transferred
between different parts of a system.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred between parts
of a system, or between different systems. Energy can be stored and calculated,
so using the idea of ‘stores’ where energy can be ‘found’ and ‘collected’ can be a
useful tool.

Worked example
Energy concepts allow us to make useful calculations about a system. For
example, a climbing centre wants to know at what speed a climber would reach
the floor if they fell from a height of 6.5 m, so they can fit the floor with the right
amount of protective foam.
It is useful to consider the start and end points in this example. We can define the
start point as the 6.5 m height reached by the climber and our end point as the
floor of the gym, when the climber is about to hit the floor, but has not yet made
contact with it.

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 P1.1
Student working scientifically
Name....................................................................... Class................... Date......................

The gravitational potential energy store of the climber will have filled to an amount
we can calculate using the equation Ep  mgh (where g  10 m/s2).
When the climber has reached the floor, the gravitational potential store has
emptied and their kinetic energy store has filled by the same amount of energy
that was stored in our start point (this is if we ignore heating effects of air
resistance).
We can calculate the energy in the kinetic store with the equation Ek  0.5 mv 2
and, because Ep  Ek in our example, then:
mgh  0.5 mv2
We can divide both sides by m to get:
gh gh 10 x 6. 5
gh  0.5v → v
2 2 0.5 → v  √ 0.5  √ 0. 5  11.4 m/s

Task
A student pushes a sprung biro on the table vertically and then lets go. As a
result, the pen jumps vertically and reaches its highest point before falling down
again on the table.
Describe how energy is transferred when the pen has reached its highest point in
the jump using the idea of energy stores.

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 P1.1
Student working scientifically
Name....................................................................... Class................... Date......................

Questions
1 Consider the sprung pen in the task and answer the questions.
a Use the equation elastic potential energy  0.5  spring constant  (extension)2
to calculate the maximum height the pen can reach, if the spring constant
k  209 N/m, the spring of the pen is compressed by e  0.030 m, the mass of
the pen m  0.032 kg and g  10 m/s.

(5 marks)

b Explain using the idea of energy stores why the pen is unlikely to reach the
height calculated in question 1 a.

(3 marks)

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 P1.1
Student working scientifically
Name....................................................................... Class................... Date......................

2 Some people find it useful to compare energy transfers with money. For
example, a girl who goes to a shop with a £10 note to buy a drink that costs £2
will expect to go back home with £8.
a Explain how this analogy is similar to a ball dropped by a height of 1 m that
bounces back up to a height of 0.8 m.

(3 marks)

b A child in yr7 receives £5 pocket money every week from her dad. Another
child receives £10 pocket money each week. Explain how this analogy
could be used to explain the concept of power.

(5 marks)

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This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 4