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During this Unit
This unit focuses on the relationships between potential and kinetic energy and the law of conservation of energy. Students focus on recognizing and demonstrating examples of kinetic, gravitational potential, elastic potential, and chemical potential energy in everyday life. Students investigate the law of conservation of energy as it relates to transfer of kinetic and potential energy. Students may be expected to calculate kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy and mechanical energy in order to investigate the law of conservation of energy.
Misconceptions:
Students may think energy is confined to some particular origin, such as energy from food or energy from the electricity company, rather than energy being stored in objects due to position or structure.
Students may think energy is lost in many energy transformations, rather than being transformed from one type to another.
Students may think if energy is conserved, there could not be an energy shortage, rather than understanding that energy is being transformed from one type to another in a closed system.
Students may think an object at rest has no energy, rather than an object having potential energy due to its position or structure.
Students may think the only type of potential energy is gravitational, rather than understanding that potential energy can also be due to an object’s structure.
Key Content Vocabulary:
Kinetic energy – the mechanical energy that an object has because of its motion
Law of conservation of energy – the total amount of energy in the universe remains constant, but may change from one form to another
Mechanical energy – the total sum of all kinetic and potential energy
Potential energy – stored energy; the ability of a system to do work due to its position or internal structure
Transform – changing from one form to another
Related Vocabulary:
Chemical energy
Closed system
Energy conversion
Elastic potential energy
Energy transformation
Gravitational potential energy
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