Published in 2018 by Britannica Educational Publishing a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc in association with The Rosen Publishing Group Inc 29 East 21st Street New York NY 10010 Copyright 2018 The Rosen Publishing Group Inc and Encyclopædia Britannica Inc Encyclopædia Britannica Britannica and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc All rights reserved Distributed exclusively by Rosen Publishing To see additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles go to rosenpublishing com First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing J E Luebering Executive Director Core Editorial Mary Rose McCudden Editor Britannica Student Encyclopedia Rosen Publishing Amelie von Zumbusch Editor Nelson Sá Art Director Nicole Russo-Duca Designer Cindy Reiman Photography Manager Sherri Jackson Photo Researcher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names Heitkamp Kristina Lyn author Title What is mechanical energy Kristina Lyn Heitkamp Description First edition New York NY Britannica Educational Publishing in association with Rosen Educational Services 2018 Series Let’s find out Forms of energy Includes bibliographical references and index Audience 1 4 Identifiers LCCN 2016059470 ISBN 9781680487121 eBook Subjects LCSH Force and energy Juvenile literature Power Mechanics Juvenile literature Classification LCC QC73 4 H44 2018 DDC 531 6 dc23 LC record available at https lccn loc gov 2016059470 Photo credits Cover p 1 Billy Hustace Iconica Getty Images p 4 iStockphoto com yenwen p 5 Sergey Novikov Shutterstock com p 6 arfabita Shutterstock com p 7 Steve Lovegrove Fotolia pp 8 9 12 16 Encyclopædia Britannica Inc p 10 Danny Warren Fotolia p 11 Aspen Photo Shutterstock com p 13 Anna Issakova Shutterstock com p 14 iStockphoto com JerryGrugin p 15 PRNewsFoto Silver Dollar City Attractions AP Images p 17 khlungcenter Shutterstock com p 18 Monkey Business Images Shutter stock com p 19 Pavel Losevsky Hemera Thinkstock p 20 stockvideoshooter Shutterstock com p 21 jgorzynik SDhutterstock com p 22 Samo Trebizan Shutterstock com p 23 iStockphoto com Mimadeo p 24 iStockphoto com SteveOehlenschlager p 25 airphoto gr Shutterstock com p 26 elwynn Shutterstock com p 27 Ross Gordon Henry Shutterstock com p 28 Emma Farrer Moment Open Getty Images p 29 Catalin Petolea Shutterstock com interior pages background image Nevodka Shutterstock com
Contents What Is Energy Potential and Kinetic Energy Mechanical Energy Position and Mass Changing Energy Finding Mechanical Energy Doing Work Everyday Energy History of Mechanical Energy Renewable Energy Nonrenewable Energy Problems with Energy Reducing Energy Use Glossary For More Information Index 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
What Is energy Energy is another word for power or the ability to do work Energy makes things move It makes machines work Energy also makes living things grow The sun is the source of almost all energy on Earth The sun makes plants grow When humans and animals eat the plants they gain energy from the chemical energy that is stored in the plants Humans get energy to move and run from eating food Energy exists in many different Plants and people need energy People get it from the food they eat while plants get it from the sun 4
Pushing pedals to make a bike move is a form of mechanical energy Vocabulary An atom is a tiny particle Atoms are the building blocks of all matter forms Electrical energy is used to power televisions and computers This energy is created when particles called electrons move from one atom to another Heat and light are also forms of energy A dog’s bark is an example of sound energy The energy that an object or a body holds because of its motion and its position is called mechanical energy Humans and machines use mechanical energy to do work 5
