Lesson 3: Energy and Energy Types

Introduction

Students discuss their findings from the Energy Skate Park (lesson 2), exposing both different energy types and the idea of energy conservation in the process.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will understand that energy is found in systems that change over time
• Students will understand that energy exists in multiple types (gravitational potential, kinetic, thermal, and others)
• Students will understand that different energy types are associated with different properties of motion (kinetic speed, gravitational potential vertical position)
• Students will understand that energy can transform from one type to another within a given system (energy is conserved in a closed system)

Classroom Time Required

• Approximately 50 minutes

Materials Needed

• Some means of displaying the Energy Skate Park animation from lesson 2 (LCD projector or drawing on the board)
• Blog entry for lesson 4, posted online

Activities

• Discuss Energy Skate Park Activity from lesson 2 with the class. The discussion can take place in a variety of forms, such as an interactive, whole-class discussion, student presentations of different portions of the lab, or even small-group discussions within a given student team.
• During the discussion, be sure to address the following questions: How would you describe the skater/track system; what does this tell us about the types of situations in which energy is important? What are the different energy types? How does each type compare with the skater’s motion? What happens to the total energy of a system over time (assuming the system is closed)?
• If time remains, give students an opportunity to work on their sketches and description of a rider’s sensations. Upload both to the blog by the beginning of lesson 4 (by someone other than the person that completed the first blog entry). Student teams also need to begin thinking about their first collaboration session with engineering teams from Southern, which takes place during lesson 5.

Modifications/Author’s Notes

• When discussing energy and energy types, I’ve found the following analogy helpful: compare a given physical system to a bank portfolio, the energy in that system to the money in the portfolio, and the different energy types to different accounts (checking, savings, etc) in that portfolio. A person can switch money from one account to another, while the overall portfolio balance remains constant, just like energy can transform from potential to kinetic as an object falls. Later on, we’ll see that the concept of work acts like a deposit or withdrawal, either putting energy/money into the account/system or taking it away.