Story of energy
We need energy to live in the modern world. But our growing need for it has led to a number of political, social, and environmental issues.
The Story of Energy aims to educate people on their relationship with energy and empower them to take action against the world's energy shortage. With assistance from The Big Lottery Fund and in collaboration with London Community Energy, we produced it.
What is energy?
The ability to do work is defined as the ability to move something against a force, such as gravity, according to physicists, who are scientists who study force, motion, and energy. In the universe, there are many distinct types of energy that are capable of performing a variety of tasks.
Energy exists everywhere and manifests itself in a variety of ways. Kinetic energy is a type of energy that is present in moving objects. If resistance is removed, objects at rest have a property known as potential energy that will cause them to move.
All matter is composed of energy-rich molecules, as demonstrated by Einstein's E = mc2 formula. Electromagnetic waves, such as heat, light, radio, and gamma rays, can also carry energy. As you read this, your body is utilising metabolic energy from your most recent meal.
Define energy
The ability of a physical system to carry out work is known as energy. It's crucial to remember that just because energy exists doesn't mean that it is always ready to perform tasks.
How many types of energy?
- Heat energy
- Kinetic energy
- Potential energy
- Mechanical energy
- Light energy
- Electrical energy
- Magnetic energy
- Chemical energy
- Nuclear energy
What is heat energy?
Most of us use the word "heat" to describe anything that feels warm, but according to science, heat is the movement of energy from a warm object to a cooler one. Based on this, heat is divided into two categories: hot and cold.
We encounter heat energy everywhere, including in icebergs, volcanoes, and our own bodies. There is heat energy in all matter.
Heat energy is the only thing that results from the movement of tiny particles known as atoms, molecules, or ions in liquids, solids, and gases. One substance can absorb heat energy from another, and the flow caused by a temperature difference between two objects is referred to as heat.
What is kinetic energy?
Kinetic energy is a type of power that a moving object or particle possesses. An item accumulates kinetic energy when work, which involves the transfer of energy, is done on it by exerting a net force. A moving object or particle has kinetic energy, which depends on both its mass and its rate of motion. The type of motion can be vibration, rotation on an axis, translation, or travel along a path from one place to another, or any combination of these.
A body's translational kinetic energy, or 1/2mv2, is determined by multiplying its mass, m, by the square of its velocity, v.
What is potential energy?
The Greek philosopher Aristotle's idea of potentiality is related to the phrase "potential energy," which was coined in the 19th century by the Scottish engineer and physicist William Rankine. The definition of "potential energy" states that it is the energy created when an object's form or state is changed. Potential energy is the energy that an object stores as a result of its position within the system in relation to other components.
A spring is moved from its equilibrium position when it is squeezed or stretched. As a result, some energy is gained, which is then stored as tension and felt by our hands when they are stretched.
Potential energy is the energy that a thing protects or stores as a result of its position in relation to other objects, the stress or energy it absorbs internally, its electric charge, or other elements like energy.
What is mechanical energy?
Mechanical energy is the sum of kinetic and potential energy in the physical sciences. According to the principle of mechanical energy conservation, mechanical energy is constant in an isolated system when only conservative forces are acting on it. Potential energy increases when an object moves in the opposite direction of a conservative net force. Kinetic energy also changes when an object's speed, not its velocity, changes.
Nonetheless, nonconservative forces, such as frictional forces, will always be present in real systems; however, if these forces are of minimal magnitude, mechanical energy changes little, making the idea of its conservation a reasonable approximation. While kinetic energy is conserved in elastic collisions, some mechanical energy may be transferred to thermal energy in inelastic collisions. James Prescott Joule made the discovery that the loss of mechanical energy and a rise in temperature are equivalent.
An electric motor translates electrical energy into mechanical energy, an electric generator transforms mechanical energy into electrical energy, and a heat engine transforms heat into mechanical energy, among numerous other devices used to transfer mechanical energy to or from other kinds of energy.
What is light energy?
The ability to make different types of light visible to human sight makes light energy a type of kinetic energy. Light is referred to as an electromagnetic radiation that is produced by hot objects like the sun, lasers, and lightbulbs.
Photons, which are tiny energy packets, are present in light. Photons are created when the atoms of an object undergo a heating process; this is how photons are created. The heat excites the electrons, which leads in their producing more energy. A photon is produced as the energy is released, and as the substance heats up, more photons are produced.
When light moves, it does so in the shape of a wave. No matter what, it is necessary to transport energy when travelling. Because there is no air in space, light can move there. With sound waves, this is not the case because they must pass through solids, liquids, or gases. Light energy moves more quickly than anything else in the universe. 186,282 miles per second is the equivalent of the speed of light.
What is electrical energy?
For the majority of human purposes, electrical energy is the most practical type of energy. Although it is simple to use and transmit electrical energy from one place to another, it is nearly impossible to store any significant amount of it. Computers, the majority of home appliances, home heating, and even transportation can all be powered by it. Industry, homes, and businesses all require electricity, which accounts for 18% of all energy consumed in final products worldwide.
The movement and arrangement of electric charges contain the energy itself. Electric current is the movement of an electric charge, often electrons. A capacitor may accumulate charge and store electrical energy. Although physically conveyed in the electric and magnetic fields created by the arrangement and motion of charges, this energy is easily converted into the majority of energy services.
The physical phenomenon that makes it possible for electricity to be easily transmitted is electrical conduction. This energy can travel hundreds of kilometres in wires, which are materials formed from conductors, mainly metals. The electrical grid is the name of this system for moving electrical energy.
What is magnetic energy?
James Clerk Maxwell studied electricity and magnetism at the time that magnetic energy was discovered. The goal of this study was to disprove any association between these two events. He conducted this research and discovered that magnetism and current are related more specifically to fields. Electromagnetic energy was discovered after this finding.
Magnetic fields are the physical representation of magnetic force. The capacity of the magnetic force to perform mechanical work is known as magnetic force. The movement of the electron charge in various particles is what gives magnetic energy its name. The movement that creates the current is what causes the electron to behave like a little magnet.
Moreover, the earth has a magnetic field that produces magnetic energy. Due to its interaction with the earth's atmosphere, this energy has a north pole and a south pole that result in natural occurrences like the aurora borealis.
What is chemical energy?
Energy is the capacity to perform work, where work is the movement of the body in response to a force. Humans need energy all the time, and it comes in many different kinds. The energy that is held in the bonds of chemical compounds, such as atoms and molecules, is referred to as chemical energy. Every time a chemical reaction occurs, this energy is released.
The substance typically transforms into a whole new substance when the chemical energy is released from it. Every time a chemical reaction occurs, the energy that has been stored is released. As a by-product of that chemical process, heat is frequently created. A reaction like this is exothermic. Chemical energy is among the most prevalent forms of energy in use today since it is essential to not only human survival but also that of all other living things and the natural environment. What is chemical energy? The chemical energy formula? What is the meaning of chemical energy? All of these topics will be covered in this article.
What is nuclear energy?
The ability of some very massive atoms in nature to split in half, or fission, and release a startling amount of energy as heat was discovered in the late 1930s. We refer to it as "nuclear energy," since it originates from the atomic nucleus.
Each splitting nucleus can cause its neighbours to split in turn when these atoms are placed properly in a device known as a nuclear reactor, starting a controlled chain reaction. The nuclear heat emitted by reactors can be converted into electricity, shaft horsepower to power ships, building heating, desalinated water, hydrogen, and a variety of other useful materials for the advancement of civilization.
Currently, 400 GW of electricity, enough to power 400 million typical households, is produced by around 430 commercial nuclear power reactors around the world. Nuclear energy generates about half of the nation's zero-carbon electricity, or around one fifth of the nation's total electricity.
Because of radiation worries, nuclear energy is divisive. Despite regional variations in public favour, nuclear energy is typically one of the least liked sources of power.