Energy Concepts
Initial perceptual naive misconceptions (any age)
Misconceptions
- Energy can be made, used, and lost.
- Energy is what makes us work.
- Energy just appears, striking a match, combustion, in animals.
- When things burn all of it turns into only a gas or smoke.
- Fuels turn into heat, or smoke, or gases,
- All substances become less when they burn (decrease in mass, disappear,
- Air is not needed for combustion.
- The black when something burns comes from the flame.
- Fire is not particles.
- Energy is a substance in gas… (fuels).
- Rest is a way to refuel the body. Energy within the body is increasing.
- Force = energy
- Gravity = energy
- Energy from gravity depends only on the height of the fall
- Energy is an object
- Energy is confined to its origin
- Energy is used up.
- Energy is not conserved.
- It takes energy to change things. Heat objects, move objects to a higher position, but the energy does not stay in the objects. They do not have more
- Energy is moving around
- Energy is only in living things (humans and animals)
- Excitement, enthusiasm, positive attitude, performance…
- Energy transfer mass does not affect the amount of energy transfer. Energy disappears.
- Potential energy in not energy. It becomes energy when it is transferred.
- Computers and televisions use more energy than heating
- Energy sources = the energy.
- Nuclear energy is a different kind of energy. Has something to do with mass. See matter
- Energy can't be measured
Beginning (preschool - 7 years)
Concepts
- 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.
- People can save energy and money by turning off machines when they are not using them.
- People try to conserve energy to slow down the depletion of energy resources.
Intermediate (7 years - 11 years)
Concepts
- 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.
- All living organisms need energy. Energy is transferred in many ways from a source to a receiver.
- Objects that give off light usually give off heat.
- Mechanical energy is usually related to heat through friction.
- Hot and cold objects will transfer heat energy until they reach equilibrium. Some material conduct energy better than others.
- Some materials can transfer heat by contact or at a distance
Literate (11+)
Concepts
- Energy can be changed from one form to another but not created or destroyed.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Different ways of using energy have different environmental consequences.
- Energy from the sun (wind, water, solar) is available indefinitely.
- Use of solar energy usually requires large collection systems. Different parts of the world have different amounts and kinds of energy resources available.
Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes
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