Table of Contents Energy is Everywhere 4 Energy Waiting to Happen 7 Good Chemistry 16 Making Waves 30 Tiny Things on the Move 32 Heat A Mystery 35 All the Light We Cannot See 38 A Mighty Mathematician 40 The Magic of Energy 42 Glossary 46 Index 47 Show What You Know 47 Websites to Visit 47 About the Author 48
Energy is Everywhere What’s invisible but all around you What is found in the tiniest of particles and the largest galaxy What powers cell phones makes your muscles flex and no matter how much it’s used or changed never truly disappears When you see the word energy you may think of how you feel tired or wide awake when you get up in the morning Or perhaps it makes you think of terms such as solar energy or nuclear energy But energy is much more It’s energy 4
Energy is inside food batteries and light it’s in rubber bands and flowing water Since it cannot be created nor destroyed it’s continually being transformed and moved Though you can’t usually see it with your eyes energy is all around you It’s what makes things move creates noise and heat It lights your way and helps you play Energy is everywhere Batteries Flowing Water Got Phlogiston About 300 years ago philosophers we call them scientists today thought the universe contained four kinds of matter and when they were burned a special substance called phlogiston remained Scientists tried to demonstrate its existence by burning objects or elements and weighing what was left It wasn’t until hydrogen which can burn leaving little residue was discovered that scientists decided phlogiston was not exactly an actual substance but a principle or established truth Eventually scientists called it energy instead 5
