Hi I'm Miss Sisson and we're going to talk about energy and how it transfers. What better example to talk about energy than a roller coaster! Then you're going to take what you learned, apply the scientific method, and make our amusement park even better. What do you think of when you think of energy? Maybe you think of flipping on a light switch and you would be right. That is a form of energy. There are other forms of energy that you may not have thought of. Energy is the ability to do work. A plant growing is a form of energy. Fireworks exploding in the sky, another form of energy. Swinging a baseball bat even picking up your book bag that's energy in motion. Let's talk about energy using our roller coaster example. The roller coaster gets taken up a big slope that we call the lift hill. The chain mechanism will pull that roller coaster to the top of the lift hill. At that point you have potential energy or stored energy based on the position that you're in pretty soon you're at that exciting moment when the coaster goes over the top it's not being pulled by a chain anymore it's in a free fall. Now it's picking up speed because of gravity, that potential energy is now changing into what we call kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is energy in motion. Eventually, the coaster ride has to come to an end, at that point the brakes are applied which causes friction. Friction means the force between two surfaces that are touching each other. Friction in the brakes causes the coaster to slow down until it stops. The important thing to understand here is that energy is never lost. Energy just changes forms. Here's a demonstration to visualize that. Let's say I have three bags, one has ten buttons, one has ten pennies, and one has ten paper clips. Take a good, look each of those items symbolizes a different form of energy. Now let's open the bags and mix things up a bit. Take a look at those bags now if each item symbolizes a different form of energy did any of the energy get lost? No! All of the energy still exists it's just in a different bag now, it changed forms. That is called the law of conservation of energy. Energy can be transformed from one form to the other are moved from one region to another but energy is never created or destroyed. Here's another example of potential and kinetic energy the water in the lake looks calm but it has a lot of potential energy. Imagine there's a dam holding the water back but then the dam breaks the water whooshes into motion and what do we call energy in motion? Kinetic energy! Potential energy, kinetic energy. In fact, there are five different types of kinetic energy, there's electrical energy, this is where there's motion light or heat through an electrical current. A battery is a great example of this. It has stored potential energy. There's also mechanical energy which is the interplay of potential energy and kinetic energy. Think about what it takes to hammer a nail. The hammer itself has potential energy, the action of swinging the hammer is kinetic energy, that is energy in motion. When you combine those two things to hit the nail, it's an example of mechanical energy. Another example is chemical energy which means that a chemical reaction has caused energy to change a great example of this is food that you eat. Your body breaks down food and a chemical reaction turns it into fuel for your body. There's also gravitational energy take a look at any waterfall in the world for an example of that. Gravity pushes the water down the hill, and finally there's nuclear energy which is the energy in the nucleus of an atom. A process called nuclear fission creates a chain reaction and it releases energy in the form of heat. Now that you have a better understanding of how energy is stored and converted, let's get to work and use energy to create your own roller coaster. And like any good engineer you're going to use the scientific method to create your design. Step one is to identify a question you're curious about, in this case, our question is how can I design a roller coaster that uses the properties of potential energy and kinetic energy to move. Step two is to come up with a hypothesis a hypothesis is an educated guess of what the answer to your question is. Step three is to experiment. You'll use some common household items to build and test your design build the coaster you imagine out of these materials and then let the marble test it out. Like any good roller coaster genius you have to keep revising your experiment, keep trying things until it works. Step four is to record your data. Did your marble make it all the way? How did you make the marble stop? Can you recognize the parts of the design that represent potential energy, kinetic energy, gravity, friction? In step 5 it's time to analyze your data and draw some conclusions. Then report your findings. Was your hypothesis correct? Once you're done with your design, draw your coaster. Give your creation a name and label the points that represent the terms that you've learned so far, potential energy, kinetic energy, and friction. Note where energy is transferred because remember, energy is never lost, energy just changes forms and hey, roller coasters are fun so add your favorite features. I can't wait to see what you create and who knows, maybe one day I'll get to ride on a roller coaster you've created. To download the free lesson plans to be used with this program visit us online at www.wqed/sos to request a hard copy of the lesson plans please contact your local school district. Funding for this program is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for Learning at Home.