Work, Energy & Power

Essential Questions

• How much money can you save by charging your cell phone at school instead of at home?

• If energy is conserved, why are we running out of it?

• Does pushing an object always change its energy?

• Why does it seem easier to carry a large box up a ramp rather than up a set of stairs?

Learning Objectives

Translational Kinetic Energy

• Describe the translational kinetic energy of an object in terms of the object’s mass and velocity.

Work

• Describe the work done on an object or system by a given force or collection of forces.

Potential Energy

• Describe the potential energy of a system.

Conservation of Energy

• Describe the energies present in a system.

• Describe the behavior of a system using conservation of mechanical energy principles.

• Describe how the selection of a system determines whether the energy of that system changes.

Power

• Describe the transfer of energy into, out of, or within a system in terms of power.

Printable Learning Targets