Download PRIORITY LEARNING STANDARDS

PRIORITY LEARNING STANDARDS
 Student knows that science is a general process for gaining new knowledge through planning and conducting investigations.
(INQ A, B, C, & D)
 Student knows that energy can be transformed from one energy form to another and transferred from one place to another.
(PS3A)
 Student knows that heat (thermal energy) flows from warmer to cooler objects until both reach the same temperature. (PS3B)
Vocabulary
 Energy: Energy is the ability to cause change, cause movement, or do work.
 Kinetic Energy: The energy possessed by an object as a result of its motion (movement is involved). The amount of kinetic
energy is dependant on the “mass” and “velocity” of the object.
 Potential Energy: The energy possessed by an object as a result of its position or condition, rather than its motion. Potential
energy is energy that can be released.
 Gravitational Potential Energy: The potential energy that an object possesses as a result of its position/elevation and its mass.
The amount of gravitational potential energy is dependant on the “mass” and “elevated position” of the object.
 Energy TRANSFER: The movement of energy from one location or substance to another. Example: Sound energy transferring
from the location where the sound was made, through the air molecules, to your ears.
 Energy TRANSFORMATION: When energy changes from one form or type of energy into another, we call this an energy
transformation. Example: Chemical potential energy in a log transforming into heat, light, and sound energy when it is burning.
 Temperature: Temperature is one of the measurements for “thermal energy.” Temperature does not quantify the total amount
of thermal energy within an object or substance, but only the thermal energy transferred to the thermometer by what it is in
contact with. Don’t confuse the concept of thermal or heat energy with “temperature.”
 Friction: The resistance force to movement/kinetic energy that occurs when two objects/substances are in contact. There is a
direct relationship between “friction” and “thermal energy.” It is friction, for example, that slows down a ball rolling on grass and
causes the blade of a saw cutting wood to get hot.
 Thermal Energy: AKA “heat energy.” A form of energy possessed by a substance due to the vibrational movement of its
molecules or atoms (form of kinetic energy). The greater the vibrational movement, the greater the temperature and the greater
the amount of thermal energy. Thermal energy is transferred by “conduction,” “convection,” and “radiation.” Know this for the
test: thermal energy always flows from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature. There is no such thing
as “cold energy.”
 Heat: Heat is an action, as in “to heat” something. It is the process of movement of thermal energy from warmer
locations/substances to cooler. Warmer → Cooler.
 Law of Conservation of Energy: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but only transformed and transferred. Therefore,
the quantity of energy that exists in the universe today has always existed.
 Efficiency: A ratio or relative measurement of the amount of total energy that is transformed and/or transferred to do the desired
type of work (the desired change).
 Conduction: (v) The process by which energy is transferred directly between materials, substances, molecules & atoms when
they are in contact with each other.
 Conductor: (n) A material or substance that has a molecular structure that easily allows for the transfer of energy through it.
 Control: (n) In an experiment, a “control” is side-by-side experiment used as a means for comparison. A “control” is not the
same thing as a “controlled variable.”
 Insulator: Materials or substances that are poor conductors and either prevent or slow down certain forms of energy transferring
through them. An “insulator” is an antonym for a “conductor.”
 calorimeter: A calorimeter is a device that measures the amount of chemical potential energy that is contained/stored in certain
materials. The unit of measurement it uses is the “calorie” and/or “Calorie.”
 calorie: A calorie (small calorie) is a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of
water by one degree Celsius.
 Calorie: A Calorie (aka kilocalorie or large calorie) is a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature
of 1,000 grams of water by one degree. In other words, one Calorie (kilocalorie or large calorie) is equal to 1,000 calories (small
calories).