Oh, the Potential!

Energy - it's everywhere! We can't see it, but there's evidence all around us. In this lesson we're going to explore energy and all of its forms. Let's get started!

ucd_energy_lesson01_presentation_v2_tedl_dwc.pptx

What is Energy?

Check out the presentation to the left before exploring the Energy in a Roller Coaster Ride Activity! This presentation will help us review some important vocabulary.

  • Energy: The ability to make things happen.

  • Kinetic energy: The energy of motion.

  • Potential energy: Energy that it stored.

Based on what you learned, can you think of three examples of kinetic and potential energy?

Let's Roll.

This interactive roller coaster ride produced by WGBH illustrates the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. As the coaster cars go up and down the hills and around the loop of the track, a pie chart shows how the relative transformation back and forth between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. Click the coaster the the right to play.

ucd_energy_lesson02_presentation_v2_tedl_dwc.pptx

Kinetically Kool

Check out the presentation to the left as it will help us dive deeper into kinetic and potential energy!

Let's review some new vocabulary words from the presentation:

  • Gravitational energy: potential energy stored in an object's height.

  • Chemical energy: potential energy stored in chemical bonds.

  • Elastic energy: potential energy stored in the stretching or compressing of an object.

  • Thermal energy: potential energy stored in an object's temperature.

Imagine you're a superhero with three energy superpowers. What are your superpowers, how will you use them, and what kind of energy do they use?

Sometimes it's good to hear things more than once and in more that on way.

Check out this video as a quick visual review of the presentation above.

Perhaps this fits your learning style better!

Conserve and Ye Shall Receive

Now it's time to talk about energy conversion. Take a gander at the presentation below to get an understanding of how this process works. Then just like above, check out a short video for some great examples of energy conversions.

ucd_energy_lesson03_presentation_v2_tedl_dwc.pptx

Exploring Energy


Energy Transformations


Activity Challenge

For several decades people have been playing in the dark with triboluminescence using wintergreen-flavored Lifesavers candy. The idea is to break the hard, donut-shaped candy in the dark. Usually, a person looks in a mirror or peers into a partner's mouth while crunching the candy to see the resulting blue sparks. BUT, in the age of COVID-19, let's not do the mouth thing for a while and try another way...

How to Make Candy Spark in the Dark

Gather together:

  • wintergreen hard candies (e.g., Wint-o-Green Lifesavers)

  • teeth, hammer, or pliers

You can use any of a number of hard candies to see triboluminescence, but the effect works best with wintergreen-flavored candy because wintergreen oil fluorescence enhances the light. Select a hard, white candy, as most clear hard candies do not work well.

To see the effect:

  • Option 1 - Once the whole COVID-19 thing has run its course, dry your mouth with a paper towel and crunch the candy with your teeth. Use a mirror to see light from your own mouth or else watch someone else chew candy in the dark.

  • Option 2 - Place the candy on a hard surface and smash it with a hammer. You can also crush it beneath a clear plate of plastic.

  • Option 3 - Crush the candy in the jaws of a pair of pliers

You can capture the light using a cell phone that works well in low light or a camera on a tripod using a high ISO number. The video is probably easier than capturing a still shot.

How Do Solar Panels Like Their Eggs?

Sunny-Side Up

Review

Great job! Let's review some of our new terms and concepts from today:

  • Electricity: the flow of an electric charge through a conductor.

  • Energy transfer: energy can be transferred from one form to another, from one object to another, or even from one place to another.

Now that you've learned a bit about energy conversion, think about something that you saw today that would not have been possible without energy transfer. Be sure to consider observations like:

  • What was the original source of energy?

  • What was the final use of the energy?

  • How was energy transferred?

  • How was energy "lost"?

Quick Quiz

With minty fresh breath and new knowledge in your brain, you will be amazing! Good luck!

About the Author

Chickadee*

Chickadee first discovered Camp Nuhop during a retreat for the Ohio Cardinal Conference Leadership program during high school. After high school, she migrated down south to Athens, Ohio where she studied public health at Ohio University before shifting gears and pursuing a degree in Ecotourism & Adventure Travel at Hocking College. Yes - it's as fun as it sounds! After graduating from Hocking, Chickadee served with Americorps in The Plains, Ohio working to increase access to fresh and healthy foods in Appalachia. Chickadee migrated back north after her service and began working as a zipline guide during the summer. She found her way back to Camp Nuhop to teach Outdoor Ed in Spring 2019! Chickadee loves playing outside and teaching ornithology, stream study, and leading hikes. She misses all of her campers and can't wait to see them soon!

*The Nuhop Outdoor Education Staff use "nature names" when working with students. The reason for these nature names is twofold: first it gives them a built-in conversation starter with students, and second, it provides them a level of personal privacy when working with over 4000 students in a given year.