Recap

Which of these are stores, which are transfers?

electric current kinetic chemical waves heating gravitational potential
thermal force moving an object elastic potential chemical reaction

Energy store Energy transfer

Kinetic Electric current
Chemical Waves
Gravitational potential Heating
Thermal Force moving an object
Elastic potential Chemical reaction
 P1.2 Conservation of energy

After this lesson you should know –

 What the law of conservation of energy is

 Why conservation of energy is a very important idea
 What a closed system is
 How to describe the changes to energy stores in a closed system
 The law of conservation of
energy states that:

Energy cannot be created or destroyed,

only transferred.

h𝑒𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 =𝑡h𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟

 Physical systems
In science, a system is an object or a group of objects
that we can study.

In a closed system, there is no energy being transferred

into or out of the system itself.

In reality, no system is 100% closed as energy is usually

transferred to the surroundings.
 Investigating pendulums
Method
 Use the G-clamp to firmly attach the base of the clamp stand to the bench.

 Attach the pendulum to the clamp stand.

 Measure the starting height of the pendulum with a metre ruler from your table.

 Release the pendulum. Measure the height it reaches on the other side.

 Repeat for different heights.

 Investigating pendulums
You could try this at home, using something heavy-ish
attached to a piece of string or a shoelace
A lanyard works really well!
How could you measure the height as accurately as
possible?
 Example data
Start height First attempt Second attempt Third attempt Average end
(cm) end height (cm) end height (cm) end height (cm) height (cm)

50 42 44 38 ?
50 45 47 41 ?

Start height End height

 Key Points
• Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

• In a closed system, energy is not transferred

to or from the surroundings

• Conservation of energy applies to all energy

changes.