Forms and Types of Energy

Vocabulary practice flashcards defining the major classifications, forms, and characteristics of energy outlined in the lecture notes and energy chart.

Energy

The ability to do work or cause change.

Potential Energy

Energy due to rest, stored energy, and the energy of position.

Kinetic Energy

Energy in motion or energy due to actual movement, consisting of the motion of waves, electrons, atoms, molecules, and substances.

Light Energy

A form of energy that you can see, composed of light particles called photons (e.g., sunlight used by plants to make food).

Gravitational Energy

The energy of place or position that an object possesses due to gravity; any object that can fall, drop, or move has it (e.g., water in a reservoir behind a dam).

Thermal Energy

The total internal energy of all the moving and vibrating particles in a substance; higher thermal energy corresponds to faster particle motion.

Heat

Thermal energy traveling through objects and space, moving from warm objects to cool ones until they both reach the same temperature.

Magnetic Energy

The form of energy that causes certain metals to attract (pull together) or repel (push apart) other metals.

Nuclear Energy

Energy stored in the nucleus of an atom that holds the nucleus together (e.g., the nucleus of a uranium atom); can produce nuclear radiation to power submarines or electricity.

Electrical Energy

Energy generated by the movement of electrons, powering appliances and electrical devices, and exemplified naturally by lightning.

Elastic Energy

Energy stored in an object when its shape is changed by stretching (pulling apart) or compressing (pushing together), such as in a stretched rubber band.

Stored Mechanical Energy

Energy stored in objects by the application of a force, such as in compressed springs and stretched rubber bands.

Sound Energy

A form of energy that you can hear, traveling through materials, air, and substances as longitudinal (compression/rarefaction) sound waves.

Chemical Energy

Energy stored in chemicals and within the bonds of atoms and molecules; found in batteries, acids, biomass, petroleum, natural gas, propane, and coal.

Mechanical Energy

Energy present in particles when an object moves from a state of rest to movement or from moving to a state of rest, represented by the relationship $ME = KE + PE$.

Radiant Energy

Electromagnetic kinetic energy that travels in transverse waves, encompassing visible light, x-rays, gamma rays, radio waves, and solar energy.

Motion Energy

Kinetic energy involving the movement of objects or substances from one place to another, exemplified by wind and hydropower.