Question | Answer |
Potential Energy | Energy stored due to an object's position or arrangement; energy of position |
Kinetic Energy | The energy of motion |
Law of Conservation of Energy | Energy cannot be created or destroyed |
Mechanical Waves | Waves that can travel only through matter, waves that transfer energy through matter |
Electromagnetic Waves | Waves that can travel through matter or empty space |
Convection | The movement of gases or liquids from a cooler spot to a warmer spot |
Conduction | Energy passed directly from one object to another |
Radiation | Sun's rays travel in straight lines called heat rays |
Solar Energy | Renewable energy; can be used to make electricity; can change the sunlight directly to electricity using solar cells |
Geothermal Energy | Renewable energy; "earth-heat;" when hot water comes up through a crack in the earth (hot spring) |
Wind Energy | Renewable energy; can be used to do work; the kinetic energy of the wind can be changed into either mechanical or electrical energy |
Fossil Fuels Energy | Nonrenewable energy; three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas; formed millions of years ago |
Natural Gas Energy | Nonrenewable energy; lighter than air; mostly made up of a gas called methane; highly flammable |
Biomass/Biofuels Energy | Renewable energy; made of dead trees, tree branches, yard clippings, left-over crops, etc. |
Hydropower Energy | Renewable energy; through spinning of turbines; one of the largest producers of electricity in the U.S. |
Nuclear Energy | Nonrenewable energy; Fission - An atom's nucleus can be split apart; creates tremendous amounts of energy released |
Force | A push or pull that acts on an object |
Force Pairs | Act in opposite directions on different objects; are equal in size: do not cancel each other out |
Work | Force exerted on an object that causes it to move (over a distance) |
Energy | The ability to do work |
Power | The rate of doing work |
Mass | The amount of matter in an object |
Waves | A moving vibration; a disturbamce that travels from one place to another transporting energy, but not nessisarily matter, along with it. |
Seismic Waves | Vibrations/waves of energy that travel through Earth carrying the energy released during an earthquake |
Wavelength | Length of a single wave cycle |
Frequency | Number of Waves that pass a certain point in a given amount of time |
Amplitude | Measures the energy of a transverse wave |
Period | Amount of time it takes for 1 wave to pass a given point |
The Electromagnetic Spectrum | Contains all of the waves that move at the speed of light |