Lab Activity

Energy Transformations

Concept 

Energy conservation states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. So how does one get energy? The answer is that it must transformed from a form in which it already exists.

1. List five examples that illustrate energy changing from one form into another. In your examples, list the form the energy is in to begin and what kind of energy it becomes. For example, a flashlight transforms chemical energy into electrical energy and then into light energy.

2. Consider an activity that you could do where you can make quantifiable measurements that provide evidence that energy is transforming. Devise a method of calculating the amount of initial energy before it transforms and the final amount of energy detected after it transforms. Label all data collected and be detailed in explaining how you calculated the energy. Compare the two amounts and explain any discrepancies.

Example

Using an example of the flashlight, you could measure the voltage and current of the batteries to find the energy in (energy = voltage X current X time) and you could measure the energy output by shining the flashlight on a solar cell and again measuring the voltage and current.