Energy Concepts

Primary

1. A push or pull requires energy. The sun warms the land, air, and water. People use fuels such as wood, oil, coal, natural gas, electricity or solar to heat and cook.
2. People can save energy and money by turning off machines when they are not using them.
3. People try to conserve energy to slow down the depletion of energy resources.

Intermediate

1. Energy is a property of many substance and is associated with heat, light, electricity, magnetism, gravity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical.
2. All living organisms need energy. Energy is transferred in many ways from a source to a receiver.
3. Objects that give off light usually give off heat.
4. Mechanical energy is usually related to heat through friction.
5. Hot and cold objects will transfer heat energy until they reach equilibrium. Some material conduct energy better than others.
6. Some materials can transfer heat by contact or at a distance

Middle School

1. Energy can be changed from one form to another but not created or destroyed.
2. Most anything that goes on in the universe involves energy transfer (stars, biological, physical, weather, earth, machines). Heat is almost always a result of energy transfer.
3. Heat can be transferred by collisions of atoms (conduction), or through space (radiation) or currents in a fluid (convection). Heat energy is the disorderly motion of molecules and in radiation.
4. Chemical energy is the arrangement of atoms. Mechanical energy is the moving of bodies or in elastically distorted shapes. Electrical energy is the attraction or repulsion of charges.
5. Different ways of using energy have different environmental consequences.
6. Energy from the sun (wind, water, solar) is available indefinitely.
7. Use of solar energy usually requires large collection systems. Different parts of the world have different amounts and kinds of energy resources available.