PS3.A

PS3.A: DEFINITIONS OF ENERGY

What is energy?

That there is a single quantity called energy is due to the remarkable fact that a system’s total energy is conserved. Regardless of the quantities of energy transferred

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Suggested Citation:"5 Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas - Physical Sciences." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165.×

between subsystems and stored in various ways within the system, the total energy of a system changes only by the amount of energy transferred into and out of the system.

At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple phenomena, such as motion, light, sound, electrical and magnetic fields, and thermal energy. Historically, different units were introduced for the energy present in these different phenomena, and it took some time before the relationships among them were recognized. Energy is best understood at the microscopic scale, at which it can be modeled as either motions of particles or as stored in force fields (electric, magnetic, gravitational) that mediate interactions between particles. This last concept includes electromagnetic radiation, a phenomenon in which energy stored in fields moves across space (light, radio waves) with no supporting matter medium.

Motion energy is also called kinetic energy; defined in a given reference frame, it is proportional to the mass of the moving object and grows with the square of its speed. Matter at any temperature above absolute zero contains thermal energy. Thermal energy is the random motion of particles (whether vibrations in solid matter or molecules or free motion in a gas), this energy is distributed among all the particles in a system through collisions and interactions at a distance. In contrast, a sound wave is a moving pattern of particle vibrations that transmits energy through a medium.

Electric and magnetic fields also contain energy; any change in the relative positions of charged objects (or in the positions or orientations of magnets) changes the fields between them and thus the amount of energy stored in those fields. When a particle in a molecule of solid matter vibrates, energy is continually being transformed back and forth between the energy of motion and the energy stored in the electric and magnetic fields within the matter. Matter in a stable form minimizes the stored energy in the electric and magnetic fields within it; this defines the equilibrium positions and spacing of the atomic nuclei in a molecule or an extended solid and the form of their combined electron charge distributions (e.g., chemical bonds, metals).

Energy stored in fields within a system can also be described as potential energy. For any system where the stored energy depends only on the spatial configuration of the system and not on its history, potential energy is a useful concept (e.g., a massive object above Earth’s surface, a compressed or stretched spring). It is defined as a difference in energy compared to some arbitrary reference configuration of a system. For example, lifting an object increases the stored energy in the gravitational field between that object and Earth (gravitational potential energy)

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compared to that for the object at Earth’s surface; when the object falls, the stored energy decreases and the object’s kinetic energy increases. When a pendulum swings, some stored energy is transformed into kinetic energy and back again into stored energy during each swing. (In both examples energy is transferred out of the system due to collisions with air and for the pendulum also by friction in its support.) Any change in potential energy is accompanied by changes in other forms of energy within the system, or by energy transfers into or out of the system.

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Electromagnetic radiation (such as light and X-rays) can be modeled as a wave of changing electric and magnetic fields. At the subatomic scale (i. e., in quantum theory), many phenomena involving electromagnetic radiation (e.g., photoelectric effect) are best modeled as a stream of particles called photons. Electromagnetic radiation from the sun is a major source of energy for life on Earth.

The idea that there are different forms of energy, such as thermal energy, mechanical energy, and chemical energy, is misleading, as it implies that the nature of the energy in each of these manifestations is distinct when in fact they all are ultimately, at the atomic scale, some mixture of kinetic energy, stored energy, and radiation. It is likewise misleading to call sound or light a form of energy; they are phenomena that, among their other properties, transfer energy from place to place and between objects.

Grade Band Endpoints for PS3.A

By the end of grade 2. [Intentionally left blank.]

By the end of grade 5. The faster a given object is moving, the more energy it possesses. Energy can be moved from place to place by moving objects or through sound, light, or electric currents. (Boundary: At this grade level, no attempt is made to give a precise or complete definition of energy.)

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At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple phenomena, such as motion, light, sound, electrical and magnetic fields, and thermal energy.

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By the end of grade 8. Motion energy is properly called kinetic energy; it is proportional to the mass of the moving object and grows with the square of its speed. A system of objects may also contain stored (potential) energy, depending on their relative positions. For example, energy is stored—in gravitational interaction with Earth—when an object is raised, and energy is released when the object falls or is lowered. Energy is also stored in the electric fields between charged particles and the magnetic fields between magnets, and it changes when these objects are moved relative to one another. Stored energy is decreased in some chemical reactions and increased in others.

The term “heat” as used in everyday language refers both to thermal energy (the motion of atoms or molecules within a substance) and energy transfers by convection, conduction, and radiation (particularly infrared and light). In science, heat is used only for this second meaning; it refers to energy transferred when two objects or systems are at different temperatures. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles of matter. The relationship between the temperature and the total energy of a system depends on the types, states, and amounts of matter present.

By the end of grade 12. Energy is a quantitative property of a system that depends on the motion and interactions of matter and radiation within that system. That there is a single quantity called energy is due to the fact that a system’s total energy is conserved, even as, within the system, energy is continually transferred from one object to another and between its various possible forms. At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple ways, such as in motion, sound, light, and thermal energy. “Mechanical energy” generally refers to some combination of motion and stored energy in an operating machine. “Chemical energy” generally is used to mean the energy that can be released or stored in chemical processes, and “electrical energy” may mean energy stored in a battery or energy transmitted by electric currents. Historically, different units and names were used for the energy present in these different phenomena, and it took some time before the relationships between them were recognized. These relationships are better understood at

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the microscopic scale, at which all of the different manifestations of energy can be modeled as either motions of particles or energy stored in fields (which mediate interactions between particles). This last concept includes radiation, a phenomenon in which energy stored in fields moves across space.

https://www.nap.edu/read/13165/chapter/9#120

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