Science!!

Can someone explain me :
Kinetic energy
Potential energy
Mechanical energy
Thermal energy
Nuclear energy
etc..?
I screwed up my test with those questions.. I need help my exam is coming up. Please define so 8th grader can understand

You do know that explaining energy, especially anything outside mechanics might take a while and usually is covered by several chapters in textbooks, right? If you're looking for definitions check Wikipedia, if you're looking for explanations I recommend you just read your textbook. If you need a textbook I can PM you a torrent for the one I used to cover the basic stuff (should include everything you need and way more

As Alen said that is not something that can just be explained in a tl;dr sense. You will only understand it if you grasp the full material and study it, quick explanations do not do these aspects of science justice.

Just remember that they're all energy, just in different forms and chemical structure.

Here they are
@casakim

Kinetic energy Energy of a moving body due to its motion
Potential energy Energy of a body due to its position
Chemical energy Energy that is absorbed or released as a result of chemical reactions
Light energy Energy carried by light
Elastic energy Energy that is stored in an object that has changed its shape reversibly
Electrical energy Energy due to the presence of electric charges in an electric field
Magnetic energy Energy magnetic objects placed in a magnetic field
Nuclear energy Energy that is released as a result of nuclear reactions
Thermal energy Energy of a body resulting from the difference between its temperature and that of the surroundings
Sound energy Energy that is carried by sound waves

Originally Posted by Lehsyrus

Just remember that they're all energy, just in different forms and chemical structure.

No offence but that's not quite the best way to define energy =/

Originally Posted by Poison

Kinetic energy Energy of a moving body due to its motion
Potential energy Energy of a body due to its position
Chemical energy Energy that is absorbed or released as a result of chemical reactions
Light energy Energy carried by light
Elastic energy Energy that is stored in an object that has changed its shape reversibly
Electrical energy Energy due to the presence of electric charges in an electric field
Magnetic energy Energy magnetic objects placed in a magnetic field
Nuclear energy Energy that is released as a result of nuclear reactions
Thermal energy Energy of a body resulting from the difference between its temperature and that of the surroundings
Sound energy Energy that is carried by sound waves

Sorry to break it to you, but that's horrible. That's like saying car energy is the energy of a car. Potential energy covers everything from electrical to gravitational potential energy, light (or photons) have energy due to their motion (what you defined as kinetic energy), elastic energy is just another form of potential energy, magnetic too. Again, nuclear potential energy is, err, another form of potential energy.

tl;dr not the best way to define energy, actually pretty much not a decent way at all.

tl;dr^2: everything is pretty much potential energy, kinetic energy or a combination of the two.

Originally Posted by Alen

No offence but that's not quite the best way to define energy =/

Sorry to break it to you, but that's horrible. That's like saying car energy is the energy of a car. Potential energy covers everything from electrical to gravitational potential energy, light (or photons) have energy due to their motion (what you defined as kinetic energy), elastic energy is just another form of potential energy, magnetic too. Again, nuclear potential energy is, err, another form of potential energy.

tl;dr not the best way to define energy, actually pretty much not a decent way at all.

tl;dr^2: everything is pretty much potential energy, kinetic energy or a combination of the two.

agh i just c+p all of the definitions
im pretty sure its correct

Originally Posted by Poison

agh i just c+p all of the definitions
im pretty sure its correct

Yeah, if we're explaining this to a 10 year old...

Science!!

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