Energy and life: What is energy?

Before we dig deeper and start discussing energy, what is energy for you?
Now let us have an experiment to be able to understand more what energy is
Materials:
Candle, string, matches, scissor, hole puncher, glue & coiling snake template
Experiment:
Have students in each team cut their Coiling Snake Templates, making sure to cut along all the
lines.
Draw and cut a forked tongue from red construction paper.
Glue the tongue onto the snake.
Poke a hole in the snake's head or tail; using a hole punch works best.
Cut a piece of string (or thread) about 30 cm (1 foot) long.
Tie the string to the snake's head or tail, and knot it.
Hold the snake by the string over a candle or light bulb.
As the light bulb heats up, the snake should spin.

Explanation: When the candle burns, two forms of energy are released, heat and light energy.
The heat causes the air to rise up, which in turn makes the snake spin around. (The snake does
not move up because the coiled shape of the snake allows the heat to rise through the middle
and spin the snake.)
Class discussion: The energy we need comes from the food we eat. The energy required to turn
the pedals of a bicycle comes from the person riding the bicycle. Cars and trucks get their
energy from gasoline. Some homes are heated using oil or natural gas or firewood. When
designing heating and cooling systems, engineers study thermal energy and how it creates air
movement. They place heat vents and radiators low, near the floor because they know that hot
air rises. As hot air rises it mixes with the existing room air, preventing "cold" spots and making
the space more comfortable. The same is true for cool air vents that are placed high, near the
ceiling. The cool air sinks, evenly mixing with the existing room air.
Discussion
You cannot always see energy, touch it or hold it in your hand, but energy is everywhere.
Energy is what powers all activities and cycles throughout the world. All living things need
energy to survive.
Energy is the ability to do work, to make things happen and to cause changes. Energy cannot be
made or destroyed; it can only be changed into different forms. From where do you think we
get electricity? (Possible answers: Power plant, the outlet in the wall, food.) Can you think of an
example in which energy is changed from one form to another? How about a light bulb? We
turn it on by plugging it into the wall. What happens when you leave a light bulb on for a while?
It gets hot! Well, that is an example of electrical energy changing into heat energy from the
vibration of the filament, as well as producing light!

Now, let's think about a gas-fueled electricity plant. A power plant produces electricity by
changing the chemical energy in fuel into electrical energy. First, gas is burned within the plant,
converting its chemical energy into heat. Next, the heat turns water into steam, which moves a
turbine motor or generator. Finally, the generator produces electricity.

This steam-based technology was first discovered in the early 1700s when engineers began to
figure out ways to use the energy in steam released by boiling water. They developed engines
that converted steam energy into mechanical energy for use in farm and factory machinery,
and later for trains and cars. Historians often cite the development of the steam engine as the
start of a period in modern history called the industrial revolution.

We classify energy in two ways. First is potential energy, which is the amount of energy
something has stored inside it. Anything can have potential energy. A battery has potential
energy stored by a difference in ionic concentration; even you have potential energy, as you sit
in your chair. How much potential energy you have depends on a few things, including how
high up you are and how big you are. Next is kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of an
object in motion. Anything that is moving has kinetic energy. Mechanical objects, such as a
clock or a person on a skateboard, have kinetic energy, but so do light, sound, wind and water.

Activity
Direction: Choose from the box the energy that is being describe.
 Kinetic energy

Potential energy

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
Key answer:
1. potential energy
2. kinetic energy
3. potential energy
4. kinetic energy
5. potential energy

References:
https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_energy2_lesson01_activity1
https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_energy2_lesson01
https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2014/06/f16/basics_energydetectives.pdf