• Question: What is energy and why do we have it, who thought that we need it and what would life be like with out it?

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      Asked by dippychild to Chia-Yu, Helen, Matthew, Matt H, Rhod on 25 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by polska.
      • Photo: Matt Carnie

        Matt Carnie answered on 25 Jun 2013:


        The concept of energy is quite difficult to define. We can certainly describe what types of energy there are. These include chemical energy, electrical energy and kinetic energy (can you think of any others?). We need chemical energy (food!) to fuel or bodies.

        Humans have been able to harness energy from other sources for thousands of years probably starting with fire for cooking and then using animals to do mechanical work such as ploughing fields (in this case we’re converting chemical energy into kinetic energy). Later on we worked out how to turn the chemical energy in fossil fuels into mechanical, kinetic and electrical energy via steam engines and steam turbines. We have also learned how to control nuclear energy and solar energy to convert to electrical energy.

        If there were no such thing as energy, the universe would be a very dark, cold and boring place as change does not occur without energy. If we had not learned to harness other forms of energy other than that from food, we would probably still be living as hunter-gatherers, foraging for food and using stone tools.

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