Energy Stores and Transfer Methods
Think of energy stores as different ways energy can be "saved up" in objects and systems. There are eight main types you need to know, and they're easier to remember than you might think!
Chemical energy sits in batteries, food, and fuel waiting to react. Kinetic energy exists in anything that moves - cars, footballs, even air particles. Gravitational potential energy is stored in objects lifted up high (like water behind a dam), whilst elastic potential energy builds up in stretched or compressed objects like springs.
Internal energy is the movement and spacing of tiny particles inside materials - this increases when things get hot. The remaining stores are nuclear energy (in atom centres), magnetic energy (in magnets), and electrostatic energy (in electric charges).
Energy moves between these stores through four transfer methods: mechanical (forces moving), electrical (charges flowing), radiation (light waves), and heat (thermal transfer).
💡 Quick Tip: Remember that energy never disappears - it just changes from one store to another!
