Energy and Its Transformations

Flashcards covering vocabulary related to energy, its forms, transformations, and conservation principles.

Energy

The capacity to do work or cause a change.

Kinetic Energy

Energy possessed by an object due to its motion.

Potential Energy

Stored energy possessed by a body by virtue of its location, position or arrangement.

Gravitational Potential Energy

Potential energy related to an object’s height.

Elastic Potential Energy

Energy possessed by a body due to it being stretched or compressed.

Mechanical Energy

Energy attributed to the position and motion of an object.

Thermal Energy

Total potential and kinetic energy of particles that make up an object.

Power

The rate at which energy is transferred, or the amount of energy transferred in a unit of time.

Joule

The SI unit of energy.

Energy Transformation

The conversion or changing of one form of energy into another.

Law of Conservation of Energy

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed when transformed from one form to another.

Electrical Energy

Energy of charged particles.

Chemical Energy

Energy that is stored in bonds that hold atoms and molecules together.

Nuclear Energy

Energy released by the spontaneous rupturing of the nucleus of an atom.

Electromagnetic Energy

Energy that travels in rays.

Combustion

The reaction that is involved in the burning of a fuel.

Fossil Fuel

A material such as coal that forms over millions of years from remains of ancient plants and animals.

Efficiency

A measure of how much of the energy input is useful work, reduced due to energy transformation like friction.

Nuclear Fission

Occurs when a nucleus splits.

Nuclear Fusion

Occurs when nuclei of atoms fuse, or join together.