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Energy is not created nor destroyed according to the Law of Conservation of Energy. This is the first law of thermodynamics.
Energy only changes form. It is transformed (changed) from one kind of energy to another.
In fact, the energy that makes your body work can be traced back to the sun. Solar energy is transformed to chemical energy in the plants. We get chemical energy from the plants and animals we eat.
Energy is always conserved. This means that it cannot be created or destroyed. Energy can change form. This is the first law of thermodynamics.
For instance, as a coaster car goes up a hill, it stores gravitational potential energy. This energy transforms (changes) into kinetic energy when it goes down the slope.
As the potential energy changes to kinetic and back, the amount of mechanical energy remains the same. (If we assume that energy doesn't leave the system in the form of heat or sound energy.)
The pattern continues throughout the ride. As the car goes up, its speed decreases as it transforms kinetic energy into potential. As the car goes down, this potential is transformed back into kinetic energy and the car car moves faster.
Transformation of Energy
Transformation of Energy
If you wind up the rubber band in a model plane, you transform chemical energy into mechanical, heat and electrical energy. As you turn the propeller, elastic potential energy is stored in the rubber motor of your plane.
When you let the plane go, the spinning propeller has rotational kinetic energy. The moving plane and the air being pushed back both have kinetic energy. As the plane gains altitude, kinetic energy is transformed to gravitational potential energy.
As the plane descends, potential energy is transformed to kinetic energy. Energy leaves the system as heat from friction and drag. In addition, some energy leaves the system as sound energy.
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