ENERGY

Lower Secondary 7
Science
Checkpoint
What is energy???
 WHAT IS ENERGY?
Energy is the ability to
do work. It can not be
created nor destroyed
just transferred from
one form to another.
 Different types of energy
There are many different types of energy:
Can you think of
thermal examples of each
light type of energy?
sound
elastic
gravitational
kinetic
electrical
chemical
nuclear
Different types of energy
 The Law of Conservation energy
During transfer process, the energy is not lost, it is conserved.
Energy cannot be destroyed or created. Energy can be
changed from one form to another.

For example:
● Chemical energy in food is
converted to thermal energy
and kinetic energy by our bodies.

● Gravitational energy in a ball is converted to

kinetic energy when it falls to the ground.

What other energy transfers can you think of?

HEAT ENERGY
 HEAT ENERGY
• Heat is a type of energy called thermal energy
• Heat can be transferred (moved) by three main
processes:
– CONDUCTION : The method of heat transfer in solids.
– CONVECTION: The method of heat transfer in fluids
– RADIATION : The method of heat transfer that
doesn’t need medium(particle)
• Heat transfer only takes place when there is a
temperature difference. Temperature is a
measure of how hot an object is.
 HEAT TRANSFER
• During heat transfer, thermal energy always
moves in the same direction. In which
direction does heat energy move?
armer to
• Heat energy always moves from w______
ooler areas.”
c_____
Why do objects get hotter or colder?
Why does an ice lolly melt on a warm tongue?

There is a temperature difference between

the tongue and the lolly, so heat energy
flows from the warm tongue into the
cold ice lolly.

This heat transfer means that the ice lolly

melts as it gets warmer, and the warm part of
the tongue touching it gets cooler.

How might climate change cause the polar ice caps to melt?
Why do objects get hotter or colder?
Cup gets cooler while
hand gets warmer

REMEMBER:

HEAT TRANSFER FROM WARMER TO

COOLER AREA
 What is conduction?
When you touch something hot,
the heat is transferred to your
hand by conduction.
Conduction is the transfer of heat
energy between neighbouring
particles by their vibration.

Would you expect conduction to be most effective in

solids, liquids or gases?

Is conduction more effective in metals or plastics?

 When you heat a metal strip at one end, the heat travels to the other end.

As you heat the metal, the particles vibrate, these vibrations make the
adjacent particles vibrate, and so on and so on, the vibrations are passed
along the metal and so is the heat. We call this?
How do non-metals conduct heat?
Where is conduction most effective?

Conduction is more effective in solids than liquids or gases

due to the arrangement of particles. In solids, they are very
close together and ordered and so easily transmit energy
from one to another by vibration.

solid liquid gas

Metals are better conductors than metal

plastics because they have free ion
electrons that move through the
metal, transferring the thermal energy.
free electron
15 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013
What happens a fluid is heated?
Liquids and gases can both flow and behave in similar ways,
so they are called fluids.
What happens to the particles in a fluid when it is heated?

less dense
heat fluid
The heated fluid particles gain energy, so they move about
more and spread out. The same number of particles now
take up more space, so the fluid has become less dense
16 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013
What is convection?
Warmer regions of a fluid are less
dense than cooler regions of the
same fluid.

The warmer regions will rise because

they are less dense.

The cooler regions will sink as they

are more dense.

This is how heat transfer

takes place in fluids and is called
convection.

The steady flow between the warm and

cool sections of a fluid, such as air or
water, is called a convection current.

17 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

Why is convection important in fridges?
Why is the freezer compartment at the top of a fridge?
The freezer compartment is at the top
of a fridge because cool air sinks.

The freezer cools the air at the top and

this cold air cools the food on the way
down.

It is warmer at the bottom of the

fridge.

This warmer air rises and so a

convection current is set up inside
the fridge, which helps to keep the
fridge cool.

18 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

Case study: the radiator

Confusingly, radiators mainly transfer heat by convection,

although they do also transfer some heat by radiation.

Warm air
from the
radiator
rises,
setting up a
convection
current in
the room.

19 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

What is thermal radiation?

The Earth is warmed by heat energy from the Sun. How does
this heat energy travel from the Sun to the Earth?

infrared
waves
There are no particles The heat travels to Earth by
between the Sun and the infrared waves. These are
Earth, so the heat cannot similar to light waves and are
travel by conduction or by able to travel through empty
convection. space.
Infrared waves heat up objects that absorb them, and are also
known as thermal radiation.
20 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013
What are infrared waves?
Heat can move by travelling as infrared waves.
These are electromagnetic waves, like light waves, but with a longer
wavelength.

This means that infrared waves act like light waves:

● They can travel through a vacuum.
● They travel at the same speed as light – 300,000,000 m/s.
● They can be reflected and absorbed.
Infrared waves heat objects that absorb them and are also
known as thermal radiation.

21 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

Investigating thermal absorption

22 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

Absorbing thermal radiation
Infrared waves heat objects that absorb (take in) them.
Certain surfaces are better at absorbing thermal radiation than others. Good
emitters are also good absorbers.

best emitter worst emitter

matt
white silver
black
best absorber worst absorber
Matt black surfaces are the best absorbers of radiation.
Shiny surfaces are the worst emitters because they reflect most of the
radiation away.

Why are solar panels that are used for heating water covered in a black outer layer?

23 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

Infrared radiation – true or false?

24 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

Which type of heat transfer?

25 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013

26 of 11 © Boardworks Ltd 2013