Click "Print Lesson" button to use your browser print Student Name: Alethea
Date Printed: Jan 11, 2015
Science 3
Unit 8: Energy
Lesson 1: Forms of Energy
Duration: Approx. 60 min.
There are one or more assessments in this lesson. Offline assessments and answer keys can be printed from the materials lists. Online assessments must be printed from the assessment itself within the lesson.
Firefox cannot print Flash images. The on-screen images might print as blank spaces. If you need to print this lesson, try using Internet Explorer so that all the images print.
For the Adult
*spool
*ruler
*washer, metal
*string - 20 cm long
*steel wool
*book (2)
*toothpick - 1 long, 1 short (2)
*rocks - (used as a weight)
*vinegar - 1 cup
*cups, paper - 12 oz
*rubber band
*thermometer
Investigation: Identify and Explore Forms of Energy
1 day
This activity requires a metal washer. If you do not have one, you will need to purchase this item ahead of time.
Lesson 1: Forms of Energy
| energy | |
| The ability to cause change in structure or motion. The energy in gasoline can be used to make a car move. |
This activity is best completed online.
| Have you ever heard someone say they have no energy, or been told you have too much energy? Energy is all around us. We can't see all forms of it, but we can see it make things happen. Explore where most energy comes from, and what some of the different types of energy are. | | |||||
| Lesson Overview
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This activity is best completed online.
| Where Is Your Energy? Energy is everywhere. Birds chirping, the sun shining in the sky, or cars driving by are all examples of energy in action. Learn about different forms of energy and how it can be stored. |
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| What do you know about energy? If someone says you are “full of energy,” they mean you are very active. When you turn off lights or turn down the heat you are “saving energy.” Energy has many forms, and it is all around us. Amazingly, energy is neither created nor destroyed. It simply moves from one place to another, or converts from one form to another. | |
| You can’t directly see all the forms of energy, but you can see what they do. Mechanical energy in the wind moves windmills and sailboats. Electrical energy powers tools and lamps. Heat energy in an oven changes batter into cake. The sun’s light energy helps plants grow. Gravitational energy speeds a falling vase towards the floor. Chemical energy makes a candle burn. Sound energy in music moves our eardrums so we can hear the beat. Energy makes things happen! | |
| Energy can cause changes in the motion or structure of things. Let's look at some of the forms energy can take. Mechanical energy is energy of motion, position, or shape. So a moving object has mechanical energy. When a moving object hits another object, it transfers some of its mechanical energy to the other object. This changes the second object's structure, shape, or motion. When a baseball player hits a ball, for example, he transfers mechanical energy from the bat to the ball and sends the ball flying. If the ball happens to hit a window, the ball transfers mechanical energy to the window and the glass breaks--its structure and shape change. When the pieces of glass fall to the ground, they have mechanical energy in their motion. | |
| Now you know about one form of energy--mechanical energy. But where does the ball player get mechanical energy for his arms to swing the bat? It's from another form of energy--chemical energy in his body. He gets it from food. One form of energy often changes, or converts, into another. A person striking a match uses mechanical energy. Friction converts the mechanical energy to heat energy. The heat energy causes chemicals in the match to catch fire, releasing their stored energy as heat energy and light energy. | |
| Light bulbs also give off heat energy and light energy. But their energy comes from another form--electrical energy. Electrical energy that makes a flashlight shine comes from chemical energy in the flashlight's battery. Chemical energy can also be converted to mechanical energy, as in the baseball player, or when a car moves down a street. The car converts chemical energy in its gasoline to mechanical energy in its motion. | |
| Even though energy has the ability to change things, energy is not always active. It can be saved, or stored, to be released later. Chemical energy is stored in your body. Batteries in a toy car have stored chemical energy that is released as electrical energy. That changes to mechanical energy when you turn on the car and it zooms across the floor. Firewood has stored chemical energy that gives heat energy and light energy when you burn the wood in a campfire. When a ball hits a surface and bounces, it stores mechanical energy as it flattens. That energy is released as the ball resumes its round shape, pushing the ball back up. As the ball moves upward, its movement slows as the energy is stored in its height. The stored energy is then released as the ball speeds up falling back down. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
When you climb up somewhere, you store energy . In a tree, it could be released by a fall. On a snowy hill it can be released when you ride a sled down. On a sloped street it can be released when you rollerblade or skateboard down.
| You know about heat energy and light energy. But do you know the biggest source of these forms of energy for our planet? The sun! Deep in the sun, reactions of hydrogen nuclei occur at very high temperatures and pressures to release nuclear energy. In the sun, the nuclear energy is converted to light energy, which then travels through space to Earth. Plants change the light energy into stored chemical energy through photosynthesis. Then other living things, including you, eat the plants. Sometimes you eat the animals that eat the plants. Either way, the chemical energy is passed on to you. Now you can run and jump and learn and talk about your favorite things. So the sun is really the source of all your energy. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
The main nuclear reaction in the sun takes place deep inside when hydrogen molecules combine to form more massive helium molecules and release lots of energy.
[2]
Nuclear power plants use a kind of nuclear reaction different from the one in the sun. They convert energy in nuclei of large molecules of nuclear fuel (uranium) to heat energy. The power plants then convert the heat energy to electrical energy.
This activity is best completed online.
| Identify and Explore Forms of Energy What forms of energy can be explored using a spool, a rubber band, some vinegar and a bit of steel wool? Try some fun experiments to find out! Print the Energy in Action activity sheet if you have not done so already. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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Lesson Assessment: Forms of Energy
Print this offline assessment and answer key using the links below. You will need to enter your student's results online later.
Click "Print Lesson" button to use your browser print Student Name: Alethea
Date Printed: Jan 11, 2015
Science 3
Unit 8: Energy
Lesson 2: Energy Conversions
Duration: Approx. 60 min.
There are one or more assessments in this lesson. Offline assessments and answer keys can be printed from the materials lists. Online assessments must be printed from the assessment itself within the lesson.
Firefox cannot print Flash images. The on-screen images might print as blank spaces. If you need to print this lesson, try using Internet Explorer so that all the images print.
For the Student
Lesson 2: Energy Conversions
| convert | |
| To change from one form to another. The chemical energy in gasoline is converted in a car's engine to heat energy, then to mechanical energy, making the car move. |
This activity is best completed online.
| Think about the different types of energy you use every day. Does energy stay in the place and form in which it starts, or does it change? Learn about many ways that energy can transfer from one place to another or change from one form to another. | | |||||||
| Lesson Overview
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This activity is best completed online.
| Energy Changes Where do you get the energy you need to run, play, and do your schoolwork? Your body changes energy in your food into forms of energy that you need during your busy day. Learn more about how your body does this as well as other ways energy changes, to be used or stored for later. |
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| You’ve learned that energy can take many forms. Look at the pictures onscreen and see if you can name a form of energy acting in each. Then roll your mouse over the pictures to see if your answers match. Now pick four forms of energy you are familiar with and list some things that each form of energy can do. | |
| Do you remember that energy can be stored and released later? When you eat, you take in the chemical energy that is stored in your food. You store this energy as chemical energy in your body and your body releases it when you need it. Think about the kind of energy a car needs. What kind of "food" gives a car energy? [1] Here’s a hint: you "feed" a car when you take it to a gas station. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
[1] gasoline
| One difference between you and a car is that a car simply stores its "food" in the gas tank. Your body, however, changes the food you eat into chemicals that make up your body structures and serve its functions, including storing energy. For instance, when you eat more food than your body can use, your body stores some of its energy in fat molecules. When you get hungry again, your body "burns" some of this fat to release its stored energy. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
People's bodies use food (chemical) energy at different rates. Some people tend to use up food energy easily and quickly. Others use it slowly. People who use food energy slowly are more likely to store it as fat.
| One of the systems in your body changes stored energy into motion. This system lets you run and jump and play. Do you know what system it is? [2] Your muscles are a bit like rubber bands in that they can contract and be stretched. Remember that when muscles contract they get shorter and pull on your bones and other body parts to make you move. Think about wrapping a rubber band around two objects. You first stretch the rubber band, and then you place it around the objects and let it contract. To hold the objects together, the rubber band uses energy it stored when you stretched it. Your muscles use stored energy, too, but your body stores energy in a different way. The rubber band stores mechanical energy in its shape. Your body stores chemical energy in special molecules. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
[2] your muscular system
[2]
Have your student flex and extend his elbow and observe his arm muscles (biceps and triceps) to reinforce and demonstrate the comparison of rubber bands and muscles contracting and being stretched.
| You've learned that a battery changes chemical energy into electrical energy. If the battery is placed in a toy, this electrical energy can be changed to mechanical energy by the toy's motor, to make the toy move. In a way, your muscles are like little motors. Muscles change chemical energy into electrical energy, then to mechanical energy to make you move. But they do this in a different way than a toy's motor does. Your body contains special molecules that are only in living things. These molecules store and release energy your muscles use to move you. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
Ask your student to identify other objects in her surroundings that may contain batteries, such as a radio, etc.
| Energies in living and nonliving things have a lot in common. Have you looked closely at a firefly? Its light turns on and off like a flashlight. Like a flashlight, a firefly lights up using chemical energy. But the chemical energy a firefly uses is in special molecules that are not in a battery. The firefly's molecules storing energy are like the ones in your body. Its light is also made using special molecules. This is different from the way the flashlight makes light using electricity released by the battery. | |
| When you exercise, your body heats up, like an engine in a car. When you sing a song, your muscles force air out of your lungs and through your voice box, like a whistle blowing. Do you know where your body gets the energy for all these activities? It's from chemical energy in special molecules that machines don’t have. But other living things--animals and plants--do have many kinds of special molecules for storing and using energy. | |
| Energy is neither created nor destroyed, but can change from one form to another or move from one place to another. Think about the forms of energy and of ways in which one form can change into another, or can be transferred. Now, roll over the numbers to see examples of some ways energy transfers or changes. See if you can think of other energy transfers and conversions. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
Have your student spend some time having fun coming up with more examples of energy transferring from one place to another and changing from one form to another.
This activity is best completed online.
| Labeling Forms of Energy Have you ever been to a baseball game and watched the players on the field? Where do they get all that energy? Review your knowledge of energy transfer to figure it out. Print the Baseball Energy activity sheet if you have not done so already. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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This activity is best completed online.
| A House Full of Energy How did Mr. Potts, with the help of his friends, turn trees into a great log cabin? With energy of course. Read the short story A Cabin for Mr. Potts and let's search for events in the story where energy is converted and transferred. Print the A Cabin for Mr. Potts activity sheet if you have not done so already. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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Lesson Assessment: Energy Conversions
Print this offline assessment and answer key using the links below. You will need to enter your student's results online later.
Click "Print Lesson" button to use your browser print Student Name: Alethea
Date Printed: Jan 11, 2015
Science 3
Unit 8: Energy
Lesson 3: Conductors and Insulators
Duration: Approx. 60 min.
There are one or more assessments in this lesson. Offline assessments and answer keys can be printed from the materials lists. Online assessments must be printed from the assessment itself within the lesson.
Firefox cannot print Flash images. The on-screen images might print as blank spaces. If you need to print this lesson, try using Internet Explorer so that all the images print.
For the Adult
*spoon, plastic
*tape, electrical
*spoon, wooden
*water - hot tap
*spoon - metal
*knife
*butter, stick
*bowl
Lesson 3: Conductors and Insulators
| thermal conduction | |
| The passing of heat energy through a solid, liquid, or gas by collisions of molecules. When I touched the hot water pipe, thermal conduction allowed me to feel heat energy from the hot water inside. |
| thermal conductor | |
| A material that allows heat energy to pass through it easily by collisions of its molecules. Since the hot water pipe was so warm on the outside, I knew it was made of a thermal conductor. |
| thermal insulator | |
| A material that does not allow heat energy to pass through it easily by collisions of its molecules. I thought that we could keep the heat energy in the water better if we put a thermal insulator around the hot water pipe. |
Investigation: Drippy Spoon
Use extreme caution when working with boiling water. Never leave your student unattended near hot or boiling water.
This activity is best completed online.
| Energy can be carried from one place to another. It can even pass through solid objects. In this lesson we focus on heat energy. Some substances allow heat energy to pass through them quite easily, while others do not. Experiment with some objects to see how easily heat energy passes through them. | | |||||
| Lesson Overview
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This activity is best completed online.
| Pass the Energy, Conductor Some substances allow heat energy to pass through them easily while others do not. Metal spoons, for example, allow heat energy to pass easily, while plastic cups do not. Learn about why some objects allow heat energy to pass through them more easily than others. |
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| You know how energy can change form. Now let’s look at how one kind of energy can either pass from place to place or be prevented from passing. Have you ever accidentally touched a metal cooking pot that was sitting on a hot stove? If so, you know that the outside of the pot gets very hot, even the part that is far away from the burner. Did you ever wonder how that happens--or how the food inside the pot gets hot when the pot is in between the food and the burner? The heat energy has to go through the pot to the food. To understand how heat energy moves through the pot, think about how an object gets hot in the first place. Its molecules start moving faster. The faster the molecules move, the hotter the object gets -- that is, the higher its temperature is. | |
| As the stove burner starts heating up the bottom of the pot, the molecules in the metal at the bottom of the pot pick up the heat energy, so begin to move faster and faster. But those molecules are sitting next to other molecules that aren’t moving very fast yet. What happens when something that is moving very fast bumps against something that is not moving, or is only moving slowly? Imagine playing pool. First you hit the cue ball. The cue ball strikes another ball, the second ball strikes a third ball, and so on. In this way the energy of movement passes from ball to ball across the table. | |
| Similarly, the fast-moving molecules on the bottom of the metal pot transfer their energy of movement to their slower-moving neighbors, making them move faster. In other words, the energy of one molecule gets transferred, or conducted, to the others. Eventually the whole pot gets hot. This transfer of energy among molecules is called thermal conduction. The word thermal means having to do with heat energy. In thermal conduction, energy goes from a warm place, where molecules are moving fast, to a cooler place, where molecules are moving more slowly. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
Conduction is only one of three ways that heat can transfer from one place to another. Here are two others: 1) Whole volumes of warm substances can move, as when hot air rises or warm water flows. 2) Energy can radiate through space, such as when the energy from the sun that warms the Earth, as well as providing the light that lets us see.
| When a fast-moving pool ball hits another ball, the fast-moving ball transfers some of its energy to the second ball. The second ball speeds up and the first ball slows down. Click the button in the figure. Similarly, as heat is conducted from one place to another, the warmer place gets cooler and the cooler place gets warmer. If no more heat energy is added, the object changes to a temperature somewhere between the original high and low temperatures. If heat energy is added, as happens on a stove, the temperature of the whole object can go up as the energy is conducted from where it's added. | |
| When you heat an object, the molecules begin to move around with more energy, faster and faster. They begin to bump into each other more often, and they bump into each other with more energy. Since the molecules have more energy and they bump each other more often, they can transfer more energy more quickly than when the object was cool. Good thermal conductors do that. They pass energy through quickly and easily by the collisions of their molecules. Watch the metal spoon when it goes into the hot soup. | |
| Not everything conducts heat as well as metal. The molecules of some materials are structured and connected in ways that prevent the energy from being passed easily from one molecule to another. Such materials are called thermal insulators. Wood is a thermal insulator. Watch the wooden spoon onscreen. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
Like heat energy, sound energy and electric energy can also be conducted. Certain materials conduct sound energy and electric energy very well, while other materials act as insulators to these forms or energy. The electrical cord of a toaster is made of metal (a conductor), but is covered with rubber or plastic (an insulator). Earplugs don't conduct sound energy very well.
| Do you have a heavy jacket or a thick pair of gloves? They are made of materials that don't conduct heat very well. In cold weather, a well-insulated jacket or pair of gloves helps keep your body heat close to your body so you don't get cold. These pieces of clothing are thermal insulators. Think of some other everyday items that are thermal insulators. [1] Now see if you can think of some items that are thermal conductors. [2] | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
[1] Accept any reasonable answer such as: foam cups to hold hot drinks, oven mitts for handling pots and pans, plastic or wood utensils or utensil handles for stirring or handling hot food, ceramic dishes to keep food hot, window drapes to keep heat in or out, blankets to keep warm at night, sleeping bags for camping out, etc.
[2] Accept any reasonable example such as: clothing irons, electric stove burners, metal cooking pots, metal radiators for heating homes, curling irons, etc.
[2] Accept any reasonable example such as: clothing irons, electric stove burners, metal cooking pots, metal radiators for heating homes, curling irons, etc.
[2]
Metals tend to be good thermal conductors, while fabric, wood, and other similar materials do not. The Science Fact suggests you have your student touch a metal object at room temperature, such as a doorknob, then something not made of metal, such as a piece of padded furniture or a wooden spoon. The body is at a higher temperature than an object at room temperature. The metal object feels cooler because metal conducts heat energy away from the body faster than the insulator does, so your skin cools down quickly. The insulator does not conduct heat energy away from your body well, so your skin does not cool down quickly.
[3]
Sensing the temperature of an object you touch depends not only on its temperature, but also on how well it conducts heat energy. Metals are good thermal conductors. Fabric, wood, plastic, and other materials are not. Touch a metal object at room temperature, like a doorknob. Then, touch something not made of metal. Compare the sensations.
This activity is best completed online.
SAFETY: Use extreme caution when working with boiling water. Never leave your student unattended near hot or boiling water.
| Drippy Spoon Now that you have learned how energy is conducted, try an experiment to test it out. Find out which type of solid--metal, plastic, or wood--is the best conductor of heat and which is the best insulator. Print the Drippy Spoon activity sheet if you have not done so already. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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Lesson Assessment: Conductors and Insulators
Print this offline assessment and answer key using the links below. You will need to enter your student's results online later.
Click "Print Lesson" button to use your browser print Student Name: Alethea
Date Printed: Jan 11, 2015
Science 3
Unit 8: Energy
Lesson 4: Energy Resources
Duration: Approx. 60 min.
There are one or more assessments in this lesson. Offline assessments and answer keys can be printed from the materials lists. Online assessments must be printed from the assessment itself within the lesson.
Firefox cannot print Flash images. The on-screen images might print as blank spaces. If you need to print this lesson, try using Internet Explorer so that all the images print.
For the Adult
*aluminum foil
*ruler
*tape, clear
*pencil
*paper, 8 1/2" x 11"
*shoebox - lid
*egg carton - (preferably styrofoam)
*stapler
*string (2)
*plastic wrap, clear
*thermometer
*scissors (2)
*poster board, white (2)
*glue, children's white
Investigation: Water Wheel
1 day
You will need an egg carton for this science activity; a styrofoam egg carton is preferable. Cut the egg carton apart to make 12 small buckets. If your egg carton is not made of styrofoam, use plastic wrap to cover each bucket. Push the plastic wrap into the middle of each bucket so that it can be filled with water. In addition, you will need a sink to put the water wheel under a running tap while watching it lift the weight up.
Lesson 4: Energy Resources
| nonrenewable resource | |
| a resource that cannot be replenished in a short period of time |
| renewable resource | |
| A resource that is produced at least as fast as it is used up. Wood is considered a renewable resource because we can grow more trees as fast as they are being used. |
This activity is best completed online.
| You've learned a great deal about energy. Now discover the different resources that provide or release it. The different types are classified either as renewable resources or as nonrenewable resources. Let's learn more about them. | | |||||||||
| Lesson Overview
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This activity is best completed online.
| Energy Sources Electricity is used to power houses and businesses, but where does it come from? Learn all about sources of energy, and see why some are called renewable resources and others non-renewable resources. |
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| Think of ways you use energy. You eat food for energy to run, play and think. But you use energy in many other ways. Do you heat your house in winter or cool it in summer? That takes energy. Do you travel in a car? Turn lights on at night? Cook meals? Watch TV? Run a computer? All these activities use energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, but energy does change from one form to another. Your car, for example, uses the chemical energy in gasoline to make the car move. But when gasoline burns in the car's engine to move the car's wheels, it also releases heat energy, which heats the air around the engine. Useful energy conversions usually also release some energy that is not so useful. It's often in the form of heat energy that is not captured for use. | |
| When you think of all the ways you use energy, you’ll see that a lot of this energy is electrical energy, sent to you by a utility company. The electricity that powers homes and businesses is generated in power plants. These aren’t plants like bushes or trees. These plants are buildings with machines that convert energy from different sources into electrical energy. Some common energy sources for power plants are coal and gas fuels, nuclear fuel (uranium), and falling water. Some energy sources are called renewable resources. When a renewable resource is used, more can be developed faster than it is used up. Others are non-renewable resources. These are used up faster than they can be developed. | |
| Coal, oil, and gas-- fossil fuels--are non-renewable resources because they form slowly--much more slowly than we burn them. Nuclear energy in today's nuclear power plants comes from elements such as uranium, which is dug from the ground and purified. Fossil fuels release energy when they burn in power plants, automobiles, or factories. They also release carbon dioxide and other substances into the air, in amounts that can harm the environment. Renewable resources are easily available and can be restored quickly. Energy of falling water is used at dams. Falling water drives turbines that turn generators of electricity. Wind energy also turns generators. Geothermal energy comes from heat deep inside the Earth. Solar energy is directly from the sun. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
Fossil fuels, which come from decayed dead things, began forming millions of years ago.
[2]
Studies have shown that the Earth's supply of usable fossil fuels from current sources may be gone in a few hundred years if we keep using them as fast as we are now. However, some new sources may be developed in the future that could extend that time.
| Fuel for nuclear energy in today's nuclear power plants, like fossil fuel, is a non-renewable resource that can be used to produce electricity. When a nuclear power plant is operating, it converts the nuclear energy in the atoms of uranium into heat energy. Where else is nuclear energy converted into heat energy? [1] The nuclear power plant uses the heat energy to heat water and change it into steam, as is done in fossil fuel power plants. The steam then provides the energy to turn an electric generator. Converting nuclear energy into electrical energy does not pollute the air the way burning fossil fuel does. However, the waste from using uranium is dangerous. Nuclear plants must dispose of this waste carefully so it does not damage the environment. | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
[1] The sun. However, the heat energy in a nuclear power plant is from a very different kind of nuclear reaction than the one in the sun. Also, the temperatures in a nuclear power plant are much lower than inside the sun, where its nuclear reactions occur. The same process the sun uses may be used in the future on Earth, when it is made practical.
| But even renewable energy resources have some disadvantages. Wood is renewable, since we can plant and grow new trees. And peat--a fuel from plants--is renewable as well. But wood and peat have some of the same problems as fossil fuels. When they burn, they pollute the air, even more than some fossil fuels. Solar energy is useful only with a lot of sunshine and just the right atmospheric conditions. Machines that generate electrical energy from wind energy are expensive to build and maintain. Some people think they clutter the landscape. They need a steady wind to work. Even where it's windy, it may not always be enough. Dams that use water power to generate electricity can destroy the ecosystems of the areas where the dams are built. | | |
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| To keep our Earth healthy, we must make wise decisions about using renewable and non-renewable resources for energy, and solve problems each choice may bring. | | |
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This activity is best completed online.
| Which Energy Source is Best? We use both renewable and non-renewable resources for energy. Which type of resource is coal? Water? The sun? Review renewable and non-renewable resources by making a list in your Science Journal. |
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| Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. | |||||||||||
This activity is best completed online.
| Water Wheel Water wheels have been used for hundreds of years. They convert the energy of falling water into electrical energy, and much more. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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Lesson Assessment: Energy Resources
Print this offline assessment and answer key using the links below. You will need to enter your student's results online later.
This activity is best completed online.
| Solar Cooker Solar energy has a lot of uses, but did you know that you could cook with it? Make a solar cooker and observe how the temperatures inside the cooker rise. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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Click "Print Lesson" button to use your browser print Student Name: Alethea
Date Printed: Jan 11, 2015
Science 3
Unit 8: Energy
Lesson 5: Energy: Unit Review and Assessment
Duration: Approx. 60 min.
There are one or more assessments in this lesson. Offline assessments and answer keys can be printed from the materials lists. Online assessments must be printed from the assessment itself within the lesson.
Firefox cannot print Flash images. The on-screen images might print as blank spaces. If you need to print this lesson, try using Internet Explorer so that all the images print.
This activity is best completed online.
| Review what you have learned about energy and demonstrate your Energy Whiz talent. Then you will be ready to take the Energy Unit Assessment. | | |||||
| Lesson Overview
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This activity is best completed online.
| Are you an Energy Whiz? Get energized! Test your knowledge of energy from the previous lessons to see whether you are an Energy Whiz...or whether more energy is needed. |
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| You've learned that energy is all around us. Energy can cause changes in structure or motion, but it is neither created nor destroyed. You can see some forms of energy, but not others. But how much do you really know about energy? Enough to call yourself an "Energy Whiz"? Or do you need to review a little more? Let's start at the top by looking at the biggest energy source for Earth, and then work our way down. Think of what your life might be like if there were no sun. What would the Earth be like? [1] | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
[1] Without the sun, the Earth would be a very dark and cold place. Other aspects of the answer may vary. Plants could not grow and develop without sunlight, so we would have to use energy resources on Earth much faster. Our diet would be a lot different. Animals that eat plants would die out. Then those that eat animals would die out also.
| Look at the pictures onscreen. Can you name a form of energy represented by each? [2] Energy can be converted to a form that can be stored. It can then be converted to another form to be used. If you stretch a rubber band, for example, it stores energy in its shape. That energy is released as mechanical energy in its motion when you let go. Think about how one form of energy can change into other forms of energy. Look at the pictures again. How can energy stored or released in each of these items be converted to other forms of energy? [3] | |
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Answer(s):
[1]
[2] Panel 1: chemical energy; Panel 2: heat and light energy; Panel 3: mechanical energy; maybe also light and sound energy. Due to conversions, other answers may be acceptable. See question 3 and answer.
[3] Answers will vary, and might include:
Panel 1: Chemical energy in batteries converts to electrical energy. It then can convert to other forms--it might be used in lights (light energy), heaters (heat energy), or moving toys (mechanical energy).
Panel 2: Light and heat energy in a fire are released from chemical energy in the fuel. Heat energy may convert to mechanical and sound energy as the fire crackles. Heat energy may convert to chemical energy in cooking.
Panel 3: The robot's movement (mechanical energy) may be from electrical energy, released from chemical energy in a battery. As it moves, it may hit things, transferring mechanical energy. Sound or light energy (if any) convert to chemical and electrical energy in cells in the ears and eyes.
[3] Answers will vary, and might include:
Panel 1: Chemical energy in batteries converts to electrical energy. It then can convert to other forms--it might be used in lights (light energy), heaters (heat energy), or moving toys (mechanical energy).
Panel 2: Light and heat energy in a fire are released from chemical energy in the fuel. Heat energy may convert to mechanical and sound energy as the fire crackles. Heat energy may convert to chemical energy in cooking.
Panel 3: The robot's movement (mechanical energy) may be from electrical energy, released from chemical energy in a battery. As it moves, it may hit things, transferring mechanical energy. Sound or light energy (if any) convert to chemical and electrical energy in cells in the ears and eyes.
| Living things can also convert energy stored as one form into other forms, such as converting chemical energy to heat energy and mechanical energy. Look at the deer in the picture. How does the deer store energy? [4] If you were in the woods with the deer, you might see many things that reflected conversion of energy. How can the deer change energy it gets and stores as one form into other forms, such as heat energy or mechanical energy in its movements? [5] | |
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Answer(s):
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[4] The deer eats plants, which contain chemical energy. It then uses some of that chemical energy to store its own chemical energy, for instance as sugars and fats, or to build the structure of its body.
[5] Chemical energy from the food the deer eats is changed to mechanical energy in its muscles, and to heat energy that enables the deer to keep warm.
[5] Chemical energy from the food the deer eats is changed to mechanical energy in its muscles, and to heat energy that enables the deer to keep warm.
| Now let’s try something harder. Look at the picture onscreen. What forms of energy were needed to produce all the items in and around the banana split? [6] (Hint: both machines and living things were involved.) Which forms of energy were converted to other forms of energy? [7] Energy can be released due to physical and chemical changes. If you ate this banana split, what changes would take place in your body? [8] Would you know when the changes were taking place? [9] | |
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Answer(s):
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[6] Have your student think of as many examples as he can, at least three. Answers might include: light and heat energy from the sun helped the bananas, cherries, and flowers grow; mechanical energy, including from machines, helped make ice cream, dishes, tablecloth, and doily. Heat energy helped make dishes. Human mechanical energy prepared the split and arrangement.
[7] The fruit and flower plants changed the sun's light energy into chemical energy. Cream for ice cream and whipped cream came from a cow, which converted chemical energy in plants into chemical energy in the cream. Human muscles converted chemical energy to mechanical energy to pick fruit and flowers, cut bananas, prepare the sundae and set the table.
[8] Eating the banana split gives you chemical energy, which you can turn into mechanical energy. It will also help your body grow and develop.
[9] You would feel the energy that you convert into motion, but because you grow slowly, you may not be aware that energy helps you grow.
[7] The fruit and flower plants changed the sun's light energy into chemical energy. Cream for ice cream and whipped cream came from a cow, which converted chemical energy in plants into chemical energy in the cream. Human muscles converted chemical energy to mechanical energy to pick fruit and flowers, cut bananas, prepare the sundae and set the table.
[8] Eating the banana split gives you chemical energy, which you can turn into mechanical energy. It will also help your body grow and develop.
[9] You would feel the energy that you convert into motion, but because you grow slowly, you may not be aware that energy helps you grow.
| Heat energy is one form of energy. Heat energy moves more or less easily through different types of materials. To understand this concept, let’s look at the tiny particles called molecules. Heat energy is conducted through collisions of moving molecules. How does this move heat energy through the material? [10] Some things are thermal conductors, while others are thermal insulators. A thermal conductor is a material that allows heat energy to pass through it easily by collisions of its molecules. A thermal insulator is a material that does not allow heat energy to pass through it easily that way. Look at the pictures onscreen of a wooden and a metal spoon. Which object is a thermal conductor, and which is a thermal insulator? [11] | |
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Answer(s):
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[10] When fast-moving molecules (with a lot of heat energy) bump into slower ones (with less heat energy), the slower ones get moving faster. This means that the place in a material that is hotter, with faster-moving molecules, transfers its energy to a place that is cooler.
[11] The metal spoon is a conductor; the wooden spoon is an insulator.
[11] The metal spoon is a conductor; the wooden spoon is an insulator.
| We use energy in lots of ways. We may use it to warm or cool our houses. We use it when we travel in cars, and we eat foods that have been cooked with heat energy. You probably know how important it is to save energy. This is especially important if we are using non-renewable energy resources--resources that we cannot replace as fast as we use them. Look at the pictures onscreen of the oil-burning factory and the windmills. Which is using renewable resources and which is using non-renewable resources? [12] Where do the two types of energy come from? [13] How will each type be converted into other forms of energy? [14] | | |
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Answer(s):
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[12] Oil is a fossil fuel, which is non-renewable because we use it faster than it is being produced by nature. Wind energy is renewable because much more wind is available than we use, and it is generated faster than we use it.
[13] Oil is pumped from the ground using mechanical energy. It started as plants that changed to oil in the ground over long times. The wind is generated by air pressure differences. These are related to air temperature differences, which are due largely to energy from the sun.
[14] Oil is burned to convert its chemical energy to heat energy, which then can be converted to mechanical energy to run machinery in the factory. The wind energy turns the blades of the windmills as mechanical energy, which then is used to generate electricity.
[13] Oil is pumped from the ground using mechanical energy. It started as plants that changed to oil in the ground over long times. The wind is generated by air pressure differences. These are related to air temperature differences, which are due largely to energy from the sun.
[14] Oil is burned to convert its chemical energy to heat energy, which then can be converted to mechanical energy to run machinery in the factory. The wind energy turns the blades of the windmills as mechanical energy, which then is used to generate electricity.
| You've done it! You've reviewed energy, from the huge sun to the tiny molecule. A new Energy Whiz has joined the ranks! | |
This activity is best completed online.
| Energy Scavenger Hunt Energy is all around us--now go out and find it! Explore your home to complete the Energy Scavenger Hunt. Print the Energy Scavenger Hunt activity sheet if you have not already done so. Follow the instructions in your student guide to complete this activity. |
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Unit Assessment: Energy
Print this offline assessment and answer key using the links below. You will need to enter your student's results online later.
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