Energy Basics & Forms of Energy
📋 What it is
Energy is the ability to do work; it comes in forms — kinetic, heat, light, chemical, electrical — that convert.
🗣️ Coach says
Energy is what makes things happen — move, heat, glow, grow. It comes in forms: motion (kinetic), stored (potential/chemical), heat, light, sound and electrical. The big idea is that energy CONVERTS from one form to another (food → muscle motion; sunlight → electricity) but is never created or destroyed.
🧠 Memory hook
Energy = ability to do work. Forms convert (chemical→motion→heat…) but total energy is never lost.
😂 Giggle
Why did the solar panel break up with the coal plant?
There was no spark — and it found someone more radiant!
😲 Whoa!
The energy in the food you eat today traces all the way back to sunlight captured by plants — you’re powered by stored starlight.
✅ Quick check: What happens to energy when it "converts" from one form to another?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
It changes form (e.g. chemical → motion → heat) but the total amount is conserved — never created or destroyed.
Energy is conserved; it only changes form.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Clap your hands: chemical energy (food) → motion → sound and heat. One conversion chain.