Conservation of Energy

Friday 24th November 2023

LO: Understand the principle of conservation of energy

1. State the 8 energy stores

2. State the 4 pathways of transferring
energy
3. Describe & draw energy transfer
diagrams for the following…

A. Firing a slingshot
B. Candle burning
Self-assess using a green pen
 Magnetic

Chemical Elastic potential

Heat

Nuclear Kinetic Electric

Gravitational potential store

 Energy transfers
In order to increase an energy store, energy must be transferred
between stores, this can be done through:
● Mechanical work - a force moving an object through a distance
● Electrical work - charges moving due to a potential difference
● Heating - due to temperature difference caused electrically or by chemical
reaction
● Radiation - energy transferred as a wave, eg light and infrared - light
radiation and infrared radiation are emitted from the sun
 What is Energy?
Energy is the ability to do work
What does that mean?
It is hard to define.
Energy allows matter to move or cause change.
Energy makes things happen.
Conservation of energy - Monday 18th December

How could you represent these two drawings as systems? One

closed and one open. Draw and label the systems below to show
the difference

Which system can gain and lose energy? Make sure you draw this on
your diagram
 What is the principle of conservation of energy?

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, instead it is

carried along a pathway from one energy store to
another.
 Conservation of Energy

LO: Understand the principle of conservation of energy

Draw an energy transfer diagram for the pendulum swinging

Draw an energy transfer diagram for the pendulum swinging
 Pendulum Swing
What do you see happening?

Keywords:
- Energy
- Energy Stores
- Transfer
- Potential
 What happens next?
Explain your answer with ideas about energy.

???????
 1) Set-up the pendulum as shown a long with graph
paper behind the pendulum.
2) Person A must position themselves to be
viewing the pendulum directly in front of the
graph paper and the other person B must raise
the mass to the set starting swing height.
3) Once the mass is released person B must
monitor where the pendulum swings to.
4) This can be repeated from the same swing
height.
Note down observations you make from the experiment to help
you draw conclusions from the experiment.

Use ideas about energy stores to explain what happens.

How is your experiment different to the set-up in the ‘what happens next?’
video.
Self-assess using a green pen
 The Pendulum
As the pendulum moves to the middle, the energy from the g.p.e
energy store is transferred by the force of gravity to the kinetic
energy store.
The gravitational potential energy (g.p.e) store decreases as the
kinetic energy store increases.
Explain what happens as the pendulum moves past the
middle position?

As the pendulum moves past the middle, the kinetic energy

store decreases and its g.p.e store increases.
If there was no air resistance the pendulum would be able to reach the initial
starting height when it swings back.
Why does there need to be no air resistance for this to happen?
 What happens to a
swinging pendulum
when there is air
resistance?

No air resistance With air resistance

● Due to air resistance some of the energy is transferred to the surrounding as

the pendulum swings back and forth. Therefore not all the energy is
transferred between the g.p.e and kinetic energy stores on each swing
● meaning the pendulum does not have enough energy to return to its original
starting height.
So what happens next?......

???????

What would happen if there was no air resistance?

 Energy in ‘systems’
A system is a chosen object or a group of objects.

Why look at ‘systems’ in science?

Example Do we measure anything else?

If we wanted to find how the We could but we do not
Measure the
height of a ball dropped need to as these two
drop height.
affected how high it bounces, variables are the only ones
we are interested in.
what would we need to measure?
Measure the max
bounce height.

Explain what happens to the energy in this ‘system’

 This is called a ‘systems’
It lets us to study changes that take place in response to varying
conditions

It is easier for us to analyse ‘closed systems’ in physics

Imagine we build an invisible room around the ‘closed system’
– this way we can assume no energy has left the system.
Therefore no energy has been transferred to the surroundings
in a closed system.

What would an ‘open system’ mean?

An open system exchanges energy with the surroundings.
 Conservation of Energy
The pendulum shown would theoretically be
able to keep swinging forever if it were in
a vacuum.
This would mean no energy would be
transferred out of the ‘system’
CLOSED SYSTEM

As all the energy from the g.p.e store would be

transferred to the kinetic energy store and
then back to the g.pe and so on and so forth. This would be an example of a ‘closed
This means there would be no ‘net’ change in system’
the energy of the system.

This shows the principle of conservation of energy:

Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
Energy can be stored and changed
(transformed) from one form to
another, but it can never be made
or destroyed.
Literacy Task!
WILL THE BOUNCY BALL RETURN TO THE HEIGHT IT WAS DROPPED
FROM?

OBSERVE

EXPLAIN
THINK – PAIR - SHARE

YOUR EXPLANATION MUST INCLUDE THE WORD ‘ENERGY’

Self Assessment

• Make sure you have a green pen ready to mark your

own work

• Make sure you tick things that are correct, cross

anything that is wrong and correct it

• Also add any other notes in

that you have missed ☺
Literacy Task! H
WILL THE BOUNCY BALL RETURN TO THE HEIGHT IT WAS DROPPED FROM?

The initially has a store of g.p.e, but once it is dropped the g.p.e energy
store decreases as the kinetic energy store increases. Energy is
transferred to the surrounding through mechanical transfer by
increasing the ball and surfaces thermal energy store and by sound
waves.

Once the ball hits the surface it bounces upwards, increasing the g.p.e
energy store and decreasing the kinetic energy store. It does not bounce
back up to the original drop height. Eventually it stops bouncing.

Why does the ball eventually stop bouncing?

Literacy Task! F
WILL THE BOUNCY BALL RETURN TO THE HEIGHT IT WAS DROPPED FROM?

The ball fall to the floor which decreases its gravitational energy
store and increases its kinetic energy store.

Once it hits the surface (making a sound) it goes back upwards but
not as high as where it was dropped from. As the ball bounces
upwards its kinetic energy store decreases and its gravitational
energy store increases.

Eventually the ball stops bouncing.

 Explain what would happen in terms of changes in energy stores for a
bungee jump

• Energy from the initial g.p.e store of the

jumper is transferred to the kinetic energy
store as they fall.
• As the cord tightens the jumpers kinetic
energy store transfers to the elastic energy
store.
• Once they have reached the bottom, the
cord pulls them back up.
• The elastic energy store transfers to the
kinetic store.
• The kinetic energy store decreases as it
increases the g.p.e store. Does the jumper return back to
the original starting height?
Explain your answer.
 Compare and contrast what would happen during a bungee jump in a:
A) Closed system with no air B) Open system
resistance

No net
change in
energy

The bungee jumper would be able to Some energy transferred to the cord
return to the original starting height and would cause it to heat up whilst being
keep going up and down. This would be stretched which would then transfer to
because all the energy is being the surroundings. Therefore the bungee
transferred between the different jumper does not return to the starting
energy stores without leaving the system. height.
 1. In which of the three positions is the bungee
The diagram shows a bungee jumper at three different jumper’s gravitational potential energy store
positions: largest?

• waiting to jump (position 1) Explain your answer.

• at the point where the bungee rope is fully unwound
(2 marks)
and about to start stretching (position 2),
2. In which of the three positions is the rope’s
• at the lowest point before he rebounds (position 3).
elastic energy store largest?

Explain your answer.

(2 marks)

3. In which of the three positions is the bungee

jumper’s gravitational energy store smallest?

Explain your answer.

(2 marks)
 Self- assess using a green pen

Answers

1. Position 1; because jumper is at highest point.

2. Position 3; because jumper is at lowest point.

3. Position 3; because rope is most extended / at maximum

length/stretch.