Download Energy Conversion Poster

Energy Conversion Poster
There are about half a dozen forms of energy that we know of. These include
electromagnetic energy (light), nuclear energy (one example is nuclear fission that
occurs in stars), thermal energy (heat), electrical energy (really another form of
electromagnetic energy in the form of moving electrons), chemical energy (potential
energy stored in chemicals like the sugars in food or the hydrocarbon molecules in fossil
fuels like coal, oil and natural gas) and mechanical energy (the energy of machines like
a lever or ramp). And they all fit within the two general categories of kinetic or
potential energy. Remember kinetic energy is energy in motion or energy being spent
and potential energy is energy being stored. An example is the sugars in food are a form
of chemical energy that represent potential energy right before you eat it to fuel your
energy needs for the day at school. Remember that the Law of Conservation of Energy
says that energy can be transformed from one form to another, although also recall that
much of the energy is converted to heat (thermal energy) in the conversion.
On the back of this page make a colored poster showing the following energy
conversions in the description below. Label each type of energy on your poster and
draw arrows between each energy type.
Draw the sun (label the type of energy that powers the sun), now draw sunlight radiating
out from the sun (label this energy type), then draw an arrow to a apple tree (label the
process that turns sun energy into food for plants on top of the arrow), label the type of
energy produced in the apple tree. Now draw an arrow to a person. Now the person
eats an apple from the tree, so label the type of energy the person receives. Now draw
the person walking and label that type of energy. Finally, draw the person burning the
wood from the apple tree to make a fire for keeping warm on a cold night outdoors.
Label this type of energy.
Here’s an example of a different energy conversion poster to see as an example. Don’t
draw the example! Draw the description above!