This is an
important concept you must know, it is studied in the firsts courses or High
school and University, but still a very hard topic to understand. the hardest course about energy i took was Thermodynamics.
Matter and
Energy
The entire
Universe is formed by matter and energy. The matter is relatively easy to
distinguish: wood, plastic, water or steal are different examples of matter;
but the energy is a harder thing to describe and define. In our everyday lives
we rarely stumble upon pure energy, but with the effects of it over matter. The
water of a mountain river has energy because it is capable of moving rocks, but
when it gets to the plain and calms down it can no longer do anything: it has
lost its energy. A new battery can light a bulb, but after hours of work it
stops: it has consumed all the battery energy.
Even though
we can only explain energy through its effects, we can measure it. We can know,
for example, the amount of energy that there is in the water hold in a dam, in
a gallon of gasoline or in a battery.
The light,
from the Sun or from devices made by man, is one of the purest forms of energy.
Its effects are present constantly in our lives. Today we can see how this type
of energy is being used, with solar panels, the energy efficiency of these
devices is still low but in the next years we can expect improvements on it.
One of the
ways to recognize energy is by its capability to perform a work. A brick in the
ground doesn’t have energy, but if we lift it, it has stored energy that will
be released upon drop. To break a nut, you have to apply a force on it. If you
put a nut in the ground and drop the brick, the nut will break. The work of
breaking the nut has been performed by the brick with the energy you transmitted
to it when you lifted it.
The water
in a dam looks placid and calm, but it has an enormous amount of energy stored.
When the gates open, the water goes out with extremely force. If we channel
towards a turbine, we can take advantage to make clean energy, but if the dam
breaks it can destroy everything on its path.
The solar
energy hits the Earth in the form of light and heat; the plants use it for
their growth. On this wheat field the solar energy is transformed into
substances on the grains that are used as food.
Source: Ciencia Recreativa (1992) - Planeta Agostini
5 comments:
wow! very cool! I didn't know any of this :)
Wow, I had to reread this a couple times to make sure I understood it, great work.
This is more along the lines of basic physics than chemistry, but still useful information!
Ineteresting not sure I understand it all though!
very helpful, thanks!!
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