• Question: what is energy?

    • Keywords:
      • Click on a keyword to find out more on the RSC site:
      Asked by xxelite100xx to Chia-Yu, Helen, Matthew, Matt H, Rhod on 17 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by amyjordan.
      • Photo: Matt Carnie

        Matt Carnie answered on 17 Jun 2013:

        This is actually quite a difficult question to answer. We know that energy takes different forms and can be used to do work. Some forms of energy are chemical energy such as that stored in food or batteries, there is also kinetic energy which is movement and there is electrical energy.

        Can you name any other forms of energy?

      • Photo: Matthew Hudson

        Matthew Hudson answered on 17 Jun 2013:

        Wow, tough question!

        Energy is really the means for something to happen. In science we say that having energy provides the ability to do ‘work’ .

        If you look at a car driving down the road, the energy is stored in the fuel. The engine releases that chemical energy and creates kinetic energy to drive the car forward. The energy is doing work to make the car move. Once the car is moving, the energy become the potential energy of the momentum of the car. When the driver presses the brake the potential energy of the car performs ‘work’ on the brake pads and forms heat energy (and sometime sounds energy if you have squeaky brakes!). The heat from the brakes then performs work on the air around the car and heats it up!

        Can you think of any other ways that energy performs ‘work’?

      • Photo: Rhodri Jenkins

        Rhodri Jenkins answered on 20 Jun 2013:

        Amazing question. This is truly one of those abstract questions thats incredibly difficult to answer.

        We define energy as being what is needed to perform an act of physical work. It can be transferred to one object to another, and can be contained in fuel and such things in the form of chemical energy.

        It can be identified and unequivocally defined using physics, but that’s not really the question you’re asking. My advice would be to go and learn theoretical physics. Then you’ll be satisfied 😀

      • Photo: Chia-Yu Lin

        Chia-Yu Lin answered on 21 Jun 2013:

        Energy is a concept that describes the capacity of a system to do work, for example to make reaction happen, or to move stuff around. Energy has different forms, and and is interconvertable between these forms. However, the conversion may not be 100%, there is always loss.

    Comments