Energy

Say It With Science is an educational blog that serves to teach readers about science, in general, but more specifically about physics and mathematics.

In the context of physical science, several forms of energy have been identified.

Just like there are different forms of electricity, there are different types of energy too.

Energy has a number of different forms, all of which measure the ability of an object or system to do work on another object or system.

Potential Energy is any type of stored energy. It can be chemical, nuclear, gravitational, or mechanical.

The goal of this program is to show a representative sample of the great diversity of protists, and to show why they need a new classification reflecting our growing understanding of their long evolutionary history.

Energy is defined as the ability to do work. As you've learned, energy exists in different forms. For example, electrical energy, light energy, and heat energy are all different types of energy. While these are all familiar types of energy that one can see or feel, there is another type of energy that is much less tangible.

In physics, energy is a property of objects which can be transferred to other objects or converted into different forms. The "ability of a system to perform work" is a common description, but it is difficult to give one single comprehensive definition of energy because of its many forms.

Cells generate energy from the controlled breakdown of food molecules. Learn more about the energy-generating processes of glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation.

Energy: power that may be translated into motion, overcoming resistance or causing a physical change; the ability to do work. Energy assumes several forms; it may be thermal (in the form of heat), electrical, mechanical, chemical, radiant, or kinetic. In doing work, the energy is changed from one form to one or more other form(s).

Learn more about types of energy in the Boundless open textbook.

In physics, potential energy is the energy that an object has due to its position in a force field or that a system has due to the configuration of its parts. Common types include the gravitational potential energy of an object that depends on its mass and its distance from the center of mass of another object, the elastic potential energy of an extended spring, and the electric potential energy of an electric charge in an electric field.

In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes. The same amount of work is done by the body in decelerating from its current speed to a state of rest.

Energy is a tough thing to define - it's recognizable, but difficult to pin down with words. The classic definition has it as "ability to do work," but that's not terribly useful. But however you define it, there are some rules that energy follows.

You, like other living systems, are an amazing energy transformer. As you move your eyes to read these words, your body is busily converting chemical energy from your lunch into kinetic energy and thermal energy (heat). Learn more about how biological energy transfers work, as well as how protein machines called enzymes direct metabolic traffic through your cells.