Energy is everywhere around us - from the food you...
Physics100 views·Updated 30 Aug 2026·3 pagesUnderstanding Energy Stores and Their Transfers
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Energy Stores and Transfer
Your world is packed with energy stores - different ways energy gets tucked away, ready to be used. Think of chemical energy as the power hiding in your lunch, petrol, or your phone battery, just waiting to fuel action.
When objects move, they've got kinetic energy - whether it's you running or a car speeding down the motorway. Meanwhile, thermal energy lives inside all objects, making them warm or hot to touch.
Elastic potential energy builds up when you stretch a rubber band, squash a spring, or twist something out of shape. Gravitational potential energy exists whenever objects sit high up - like a book on a shelf or you at the top of a slide.
Quick Tip: Remember that energy never just sits there doing nothing - it's constantly moving between these different stores through heating, forces, sound, light, and electricity!
2
of 3
Conservation of Energy
Here's the golden rule that'll help you ace physics: energy can never be created or destroyed. This brilliant concept is called the law of conservation of energy, and it means energy only moves from one store to another.
Picture an electric kettle as a simple energy system. The total energy going in always equals the total energy coming out - it's perfectly balanced. We measure all this energy movement in Joules (J).
Energy diagrams make this concept dead easy to visualise. When a car brakes, kinetic energy (from the moving car) transfers through forces into thermal energy (hot brakes). Similarly, when a bullet hits an egg, the bullet's kinetic energy transfers through impact forces into heat, sound, and kinetic energy of the broken eggshell.
Remember: Energy is always conserved, but it doesn't always transfer into forms that are actually useful to us!
3
of 3
Sankey Diagrams
Sankey diagrams are brilliant visual tools that show exactly how much energy transfers in any system. The width of each arrow represents the amount of energy measured in Joules - wider arrows mean more energy.
Looking at the example, 100J of electrical energy enters the system. Then it splits: 55J transfers as light energy whilst 45J transfers through heating.
These diagrams make energy transfers crystal clear and help you track where every single Joule goes. You'll find them incredibly useful for solving energy problems and understanding efficiency in real-world devices.
Pro Tip: The total width of arrows going out always equals the width of arrows going in - that's conservation of energy in action!
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Physics100 views·Updated 30 Aug 2026·3 pagesUnderstanding Energy Stores and Their Transfers
;)@pookiepie1234
Energy is everywhere around us - from the food you eat to your phone battery to a football flying through the air. Understanding how energy works and moves between different forms is crucial for mastering physics and explaining how our...
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Energy Stores and Transfer
Your world is packed with energy stores - different ways energy gets tucked away, ready to be used. Think of chemical energy as the power hiding in your lunch, petrol, or your phone battery, just waiting to fuel action.
When objects move, they've got kinetic energy - whether it's you running or a car speeding down the motorway. Meanwhile, thermal energy lives inside all objects, making them warm or hot to touch.
Elastic potential energy builds up when you stretch a rubber band, squash a spring, or twist something out of shape. Gravitational potential energy exists whenever objects sit high up - like a book on a shelf or you at the top of a slide.
Quick Tip: Remember that energy never just sits there doing nothing - it's constantly moving between these different stores through heating, forces, sound, light, and electricity!
2
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- Access to all documents
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Conservation of Energy
Here's the golden rule that'll help you ace physics: energy can never be created or destroyed. This brilliant concept is called the law of conservation of energy, and it means energy only moves from one store to another.
Picture an electric kettle as a simple energy system. The total energy going in always equals the total energy coming out - it's perfectly balanced. We measure all this energy movement in Joules (J).
Energy diagrams make this concept dead easy to visualise. When a car brakes, kinetic energy (from the moving car) transfers through forces into thermal energy (hot brakes). Similarly, when a bullet hits an egg, the bullet's kinetic energy transfers through impact forces into heat, sound, and kinetic energy of the broken eggshell.
Remember: Energy is always conserved, but it doesn't always transfer into forms that are actually useful to us!
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Sankey Diagrams
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Looking at the example, 100J of electrical energy enters the system. Then it splits: 55J transfers as light energy whilst 45J transfers through heating.
These diagrams make energy transfers crystal clear and help you track where every single Joule goes. You'll find them incredibly useful for solving energy problems and understanding efficiency in real-world devices.
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