WHAT TYPE OF ENERGY IS IT?

top Forms of energy, Kinetic and Potential Energy, Work and Heat - from FT Exploring top


Turtles don't run (or jump or pant or fly), but if they did, it would be an example of kinetic energy. Of course, walking is also a form of kinetic energy, just not as fast.		Hanging apple = Potential energy When it's hanging it's potential. When it's falling the potential energy is turned into kinetic energy. What happens to the energy when it hits the head?

WHAT TYPE OF ENERGY IS IT? (Are There Just Two Forms of Energy or a Whole Slew of Them?)

There are many forms of energy, such as electrical, mechanical, and chemical. Or are there really just two types of energy - kinetic energy and potential energy? We explain why both views are sort of right. We also explain that work and heat are energy transfer processes. This is the "Nit-Picky" energy page for noble explorers of energy (and teachers, and more advanced students about junior high or above).

(责任编辑：泉水)

How Many Types of Energy are There?
      If a psychologist were asked to diagnose energy, she might say it has multiple personality disorder (is there such a disorder?). Our fascinating friend Mr. Energy seems to have a lot of ways to express himself.
     "Oh yeah," you might ask, "How many types of energy are there?"
     "Two? Twenty? One?"

I know, I know. You hear about all kinds of different energy forms. You hear about electrical energy, chemical energy, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, heat, potential energy, work, and others too. Even within the hallowed pages of this web site I am guilty of tossing around an endless slew of energy terms with reckless abandon. Your dauntless energy explorations may have also led you to sources that tell you there are only two types of energy - kinetic and potential. What? Only two? Yup. It's what my learned and wise thermodynamics professors said. However, if you really want to be nit-picky, as I always do, it seems to me a person could make a pretty good case there is only one type of energy - kinetic. Because potential energy is more like "energy-waiting-to-happen", but not actually happening yet. Is that really energy? Or is that going too far? Am I crossing into the nit-picky "twilight zone" of energy symantics? Yes, I am going too far. We can't do without the concept of potential or stored energy. When we analyze energy flows in nature and technology, we have to account for all of the energy as the First Law of Thermodynamics tells us we must. It wouldn't "add up" without keeping track of potential energy.
				Some animals use kinetic energy to catch and eat other animals.

				Some animals use kinetic energy to not get eaten by other animals.

				Sometimes kinetic energy is just fun. It feels darn good to run, or to be more technical, to convert potential energy stored in our cells into the kinetic energy of our body.