Worksheet 10.

8 James Joule’s
thermometer

Read the information below, then answer the questions that follow.

Energy is measured in units called joules. The symbol for this unit is J. The
unit is named after an English scientist called James Joule.
James Joule came from a family that owned a brewery. His family hired a
private tutor to educate him. Then he went to Manchester University.
James Joule was very interested in ideas about energy. Because he was
manager of the family brewery, he could watch steam engines at work. He saw
how the energy stored in coal could be used to make machinery move.
In 1848, James Joule married Amelia Grimes. During their honeymoon, they
visited the Alps, a mountain range in Europe. James packed a thermometer so
that he could make measurements.
His idea was to measure the temperature of the water at the top of a high
waterfall, and at the foot of the waterfall. He thought that the water at
the foot of the fall would be warmer than at the top. He was right, but his
measurements were not precise enough to show this.

1 What is the unit of energy? Give its name and symbol.

2 The steam engines in James Joule’s brewery used coal as a fuel.

a What type of energy store is coal?

b What type of energy does a moving machine have?

3 James Joule measured the temperature of the water at the top of the waterfall.
a What store of energy does water have when it is high up?

b James Joule expected the water at the foot of the waterfall to be warmer than at the top.
Use the idea of energy changes to explain this idea.

Copyright Cambridge University Press 2012 Cambridge Checkpoint Science 7 1

 Worksheet 10.8

4 Explain why James Joule was unable to show that his idea was correct.

Copyright Cambridge University Press 2012 Cambridge Checkpoint Science 7 2