Energy
Lesson # 1: What is energy?
Time Frame: 60 minutes
Please write the vocabulary words on the board before each lesson
Vocabulary:
Energy- the ability to do work or cause change
Potential Energy- is the stored energy of position. The potential energy of an object is the energy it possesses when it is not in motion.
Kinetic Energy- is energy of motion. The kinetic energy of an object is the energy it possesses because of its motion.
Medium- A substance that makes the transfer of energy possible from one location to another
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
1) Understand that there is energy in everything around us
2) Construct simple explanations for the relationship between energy and motion
3) Carry out experiments to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by moving or colliding objects
4) Explain the difference between potential and kinetic energy
Introduction:
Use story and/or article (both provided) to introduce energy
Concepts:
After reading, discuss with class that energy is around us in many different forms. Energy can be transferred from place to place through sound, light, heat, electric currents, interacting magnets and moving or colliding objects. Mention that over the next few weeks, we are going to conduct experiments showing how energy can be transferred through the stated mediums.
In this lesson, we will talk about how energy can be transferred through moving objects. When an object collides with another object, some of its energy is transferred to that object.
There are two main forms of energy - potential and kinetic. Potential energy is stored energy. For example, a book on the table has potential energy. The higher an object is, the more potential energy it has.
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion - you have it when you run, cars have it when they drive, a ball has it when it is thrown in the air.
Ask students: What around you has potential energy? Can you spot anything with kinetic energy?
Focus Activity 1:
Students will create an experiment showing potential and kinetic energy at work.
Materials:
Marbles
A tubular ramp
Meter stick
An open box
Have students work in groups of 4:
1. Have the students fill out the provided worksheet as they do the experiment
2. Set up the ramp with the cut box at the bottom (the open end of the box should face the top of the ramp). Place a meter stick at the bottom of the ramp beside the tissue box.
3. Let the marble go. Record the distance the marble pushed the box on the worksheet.
4. Make the ramp steeper and repeat step 3.
5. Try letting the marble go at different spots on the ramp and record your results.
As you conduct the experiment, ask students to think about why the marbles move farther when the ramp is steeper.
Explain to students that the steeper the ramp, the higher the marble is, the more potential energy it has. The more potential energy it has, the faster it will roll down the ramp. The faster it rolls down the ramp, the more kinetic energy it has. The more kinetic energy it has, the more energy it will give to the box and the farther the box will move.
Review:
Explain to students to the relationship between energy and motion. The steeper the ramp, the faster the marble rolls and the farther the box will be pushed. When the marble rolls down the ramp, it transfers some of its energy into the box. The energy that the box gains enables it to move.
Focus Activity 2:
If iPads are available, have students film one another slowly throwing a ball using “Video Physics.” They can re-watch the videos and analyze their movements. Have them mark the arch of the different balls. Then have the students point out when they think the balls have the most and least potential and kinetic energy. Have them view their data in graph form and see if their hypotheses were correct. Discuss as a class.
Focus Activity 3 (Playground): If you have the patience
If it is a nice day, take the students to the playground
Have a student sit at the top of a slide - does that student have potential or kinetic energy?
Have the student slide down - now what kind of energy does that student have?
Have a student throw a ball. How far does it go? Have the same student stand on a platform and throw a ball. This time the ball should go farther. Ask the class why. It is because when he stands on a platform the ball has more potential energy or both?
Ask students to find examples of potential and kinetic energy in the playground and to demonstrate for the class.
Conclusion and Assessment
In their notebooks, ask students to think of ways that they use energy every day and if they could list other relationships between energy and motion.
Ask students to write in their notebooks the difference between potential and kinetic energy and to write down three examples of each that they would find in school or at home.
Ask students to bring in one empty food package for next week’s lesson.