Energy Stores and Systems
Your world is full of energy stores - eight different types where energy can be kept, just like having different pockets for your money. Thermal energy stores hold heat energy, whilst kinetic energy stores contain movement energy. You've also got gravitational potential energy stores (think objects held high up), elastic potential energy stores (like stretched rubber bands), and chemical energy stores (in food and batteries).
The remaining three are magnetic energy stores, electrostatic energy stores, and nuclear energy stores. Energy moves between these stores through four main pathways: mechanically (when forces do work), electrically (through moving charges), by heating, or by radiation like light and sound.
Systems are just physicist-speak for whatever you're focusing on - could be a single object or a group of objects. When systems change, energy always transfers somewhere. In closed systems, no matter or energy can escape, so the total energy never changes - it just moves around.
Quick Tip: Remember that energy never disappears - it just changes location or type, like moving money between different bank accounts!